Synopses & Reviews
Both a medical drama and meditation on motherhood, The Water Giver is Joan Ryan's honest account of her doubts and mistakes in raising a learning-disabled son and the story of how his near-fatal accident gave her a second chance as a parent.
Review
"Given the perspective that sometimes only a crisis can bring, Ryan learns to forgive herself for the smaller struggles of her son's earlier years, to take each day's challenges as they come and to trust herself to be the only mother that he needs."
--Publishers Weekly
Review
"We have to admire Ryan for tackling these topics. It is one thing to
live through the experiences as they occur; it is quite another to
re-create them honestly and effectively. And though the story Ryan
tells is unique...the themes of love, grace and redemption that run
through her discussion are ideas with which we can all relate."
--Christina Eng, The San Francisco Chronicle
Synopsis
The Water Giver is the gripping story of a near-fatal accident and an examination of how the tragic event gave the author a new start as a mother.
Synopsis
The Water Giver is the gripping story of a near-fatal accident and an examination of how the tragic event gave the author a new start as a mother.
About the Author
Joan Ryan is an award-winning journalist and author. She was one of the first female sports columnists in the country, and has covered every major sporting event, from the Super Bowl to the Olympics and championship fights. Her work has earned her thirteen Associated Press Sports Editors Awards, the National Headliner Award and the Women's Sports Foundation's Journalism Award by the San Francisco chapter of the National Organization for Women. Her book Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters was named one of the Top 100 Sports Books of All Time by Sports Illustrated (the only one to be authored by a woman), and one of the Top 50 Sports Books of All Time by the Guardian. Joan now works as a media consultant to the San Francisco Giants.