So Lucky

Settle in quickly when you begin this little book, because it's going to charge out of the gate, whether you're buckled in or not. It begins with a stumble for its main character, Mara, which soon becomes a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. The disease moves fast, but so does Mara, who, decisive in this and all things, turns quickly to action and activism. The result is a battle unlike any I've read on the page before—not so much with the implacable MS as with the conditions of invisibility and assumed helplessness and uselessness that Mara encounters. Imagine Beowulf crossed with The Monkey Wrench Gang, set in a world of health advocacy nonprofits.