Jesse: A Mother's Story

Originally published as Knowing Jesse, this “fine and moving” memoir (Los Angeles Times) by actress Marianne Leone tells the uplifting story of her son’s life.

Jesse Cooper was an honor-roll student who loved to windsurf and write poetry. He also had severe cerebral palsy and was quadriplegic, unable to speak, and wracked by seizures. He died suddenly at age seventeen.

In fiercely honest, surprisingly funny, and sometimes heartbreaking prose, Jesse’s mother, Marianne Leone, chronicles her tr...