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Summary
Summary
A powerfully written novel offering an intimate look at a beautiful marriage and how bipolar disorder and cancer affect it, Dancing on Broken Glass by Ka Hancock perfectly illustrates the enduring power of love.
Lucy Houston and Mickey Chandler probably shouldn't have fallen in love, let alone gotten married. They're both plagued with faulty genes--he has bipolar disorder, and she has a ravaging family history of breast cancer. But when their paths cross on the night of Lucy's twenty-first birthday, sparks fly, and there's no denying their chemistry.
Cautious every step of the way, they are determined to make their relationship work--and they put it all in writing. Mickey promises to take his medication. Lucy promises not to blame him for what is beyond his control. He promises honesty. She promises patience. Like any marriage, they have good days and bad days--and some very bad days. In dealing with their unique challenges, they make the heartbreaking decision not to have children. But when Lucy shows up for a routine physical just shy of their eleventh anniversary, she gets an impossible surprise that changes everything. Everything. Suddenly, all their rules are thrown out the window, and the two of them must redefine what love really is.
An unvarnished portrait of a marriage that is both ordinary and extraordinary, Dancing on Broken Glass takes readers on an unforgettable journey of the heart.
Author Notes
Ka Hancock has two nursing degrees and has spent most of her career working with psychiatric and substance abuse patients. She lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and has four children. Dancing on Broken Glass is her first novel.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Thirty-somethings Mickey Chandler and Lucy Houston are married and desperately in love, but like all couples, they have their problems-Mickey is bipolar, and Lucy's family has a history of breast cancer, which she's battled once already. In order to preserve their marriage in the face of biological contingencies, they've drafted a contract governing their day-to-day lives. However, the rules fail to apply when Lucy discovers that she is pregnant, despite having had a tubal ligation. Three months into the pregnancy, they learn that Lucy's cancer has returned and spread to her lungs, but she can't do chemo without having an abortion. She refuses treatment and decides to have the baby. Mickey is devastated at the prospect of losing his wife. In an attempt to prove to Lucy his paternal ineptitude (and convince her to undergo treatment and abort the pregnancy), Mickey begins to act out, blaming it on his bipolarity. So Lucy drafts a contract providing, in the event of her death, for a three-way adoption between Mickey; Lucy's childless sister, Lily; and Lily's husband, Ron. Despite an occasional reliance on cliches, Hancock's debut is an authentic tearjerker-an intimate and touching story that will remain in readers' hearts. Agent: Mollie Glick, Foundry Literary + Media. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A tidily crafted but treacly excavation of misery in the name of higher sentiments. ]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
