Naked Imperfection: A Memoir

What if you’re doing everything right—living a healthy, virtuous, conscientious life—and something goes terribly wrong?

Gillian Deacon was the paragon of virtue, the standard-bearer for how to live responsibly on the Earth. So when the all-natural, vegetarian, yoga-practising, marathon-running mother of three young boys was diagnosed with breast cancer, the world stopped making sense.

In an increasingly perilous environment, the promise of order amid chaos is so tantalizing.Every busy woman will recognize herself in Gill’s striving—if we just get through our to-do list of achievements and improvements, we can get our lives under control …can’t we? The illusion of perfection is a powerful motivator, propelling so many of us on a breakneck pace toward somewhere other than where we are right now. But as only a brush with death can teach us, Gill learns the folly of believing we are in control.

Readers will be inspired to appreciate the ragged imperfection of right now and learn to find glimpses of gratitude in every moment of any day.