Product Description

This is the story of one woman. But it's not just one woman's story. It's about family. And it's a story that could belong to any one of us at any time. Caron was 41 when she died, leaving behind two sons, Gabriel and Charlie. A few weeks after Gabriel was born - and her own father died - Caron found a lump in her breast. Gloria knew at that moment, that all their lives would change for ever. The next seven years of Caron's life, and her family's, became a quest for recovery that ultimately took them across the world. They became experts in the illness and its treatment, both conventional and alternative. All the while Caron was living in the public eye and keeping her own, devastating secret. The loss of a loved one is the most terrible thing to contemplate. And all of us will have to face it at some point in our lives. Although Caron lost her battle with cancer, this isn't a sad book. Told by Gloria, with extracts from Caron's own diaries, it's an inspirational and honest account of how Caron, Gloria and the whole family faced and coped with illness; it's a celebration of an unbreakable mother - daughter relationship and how that relationship withstood the strain of Caron's illness. And above all it's a book to commemorate a spirited, magical woman. A woman who loved life and fought to hold onto it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #191218 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

About the Author
Gloria Hunniford was the first woman to have her own daily radio show on BBC Radio 2 which she presented for thirteen years until 1995. She has appeared on and presented numerous shows including Gloria Live, Wogan, Holiday, Songs of Praise and Open House with Gloria which gave Channel Five its highest ever ratings. She has won several prestigious awards including TV Personality of the Year, Radio Personality of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Customer Reviews

Mixed feelings about this book
I agree with the other reviewers in that this is incredibly moving and I too cried at some parts. It is uplifting in places and worth a read. However I have some criticism of the book. I wasn't banking on quite so much information about Gloria herself and her marriage and career. I thought it would just be about Caron so I skimmed through most of that. There wasn't that much information about her treatments either which is what I was personally interested in. Caron gave up on the orthadox way and opted for more holistic healing, but its obvious Gloria didn't really agree with this and it comes across as a bit scathing and critical. I didn't really enjoy the book on the whole mainly because I failed to identify with Caron herself. I thought she came across as very self indulgent. She took herself off to Australia alone and left her little boys, she refused to have her second breast off as she couldn't face being "maimed", she refused medical treatment believing she could heal herself. None of this is how I would react and I couldn't help but think how lucky she was to have a husband who could pay for all these holistic treatments, she was having 5/6 a day. I felt it was a terrible waste of life and having 2 small boys myself I was crying my eyes out at the passages written by Caron about the boys growing up without her, but I didn't identify with her reaction and I was disappointed about the lack of information given about her treatments.

Gloria doing what a Mum does best ( protect her child)
I couldn't put the book down. I was bought the book as a present and I bought the book as a present. ( for the same person) As Gloria told her story it was obvious how much she loved and cared for the daughter, but I felt that Caron was often behaving in a very selfish way. Her family deserve medals for not only going through the emotional aspect of the illness but for putting up with Caron's often wacky methods of treatement that she thought could heal her. And then when tratment was attempted had she left it too late? It must have been incredibly difficult for Gloria to tell this story, and from reading about Caron's early days she appeared to be rather spoilt then too. I do hope that the family will remember the good times and pray that her two boys will always have golden memories of Caron.I hope that Russ will behappy in whatever he decides to do in the future. My heart goes out to him.

Disappointing
I was eager to read this book but it actually told the reader very little of breast cancer. I also think the title was a misnomer as having read the book Caron was not at all courageous she was totally in denial which is fine, I'm not saying I would be any different but I'm surprised everyone praised her for her courage when it was clear that she never really confronted her illness to the extent where she didn't even make a will.

I didn't think the book was at all well written either although it is good that inspite of the incredibly close relationship mother and daughter shared that Gloria did not idealise Caron and portrayed her warts and all.

It is a shame that Caron refused the tamoxifen she was offered after her initial diagnosis and also refused a 2nd mastectomy or didn't have a mastectomy at the outset which may have resulted in a better outcome. Also this book has made me even more sceptical of alternative therapies.
It also struck me as incredibly sad that Caron felt do embarrassed and ashamed of her illness as cancer used to carry a huge stigma and some cancers probably still do but I thought we'd moved on from all of that.

Her husband certainly came across as being a saint and having put up with an awful lot as well as put his own life on hold for 7 years and I hope that he is happy with his new wife as he did not deserve any of the criticism he got for remarrying. My heart goes out to them all, especially Gloria as I can't imagine anything worse than losing a child.