Edna's Gift: How My Broken Sister Taught Me to Be Whole

by Susan Rudnick

Overview

When they were young, Susan and Edna, children of Holocaust refugee parents, were inseparable; Edna was Susan’s first love and constant companion. But as they grew up and Edna’s physical, and mental challenges altered the ways she could develop, a gulf formed between them. Susan’s life became even more complicated when, just short of her sixteenth birthday, she learned that she’d been born without a uterus and would never menstruate or give birth to children. As she coped with this trauma, Edna continued loving her unconditionally, as she always had.

In her adult years Edna lived a life of dignity in a spiritual community, becoming a model for how Susan could live hers. In her forties, Susan realized her dream of motherhood when she adopted a daughter. Throughout, Edna remained a teacher and loving presence in her sister’s life.

Encompassing Susan and Edna’s lifelong, complex, intertwining relationship, Edna’s Gift has a powerful message: life may be unpredictable, even traumatic—but if you remain open, strength and wisdom will come to you from surprising and unexpected sources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631525162
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	06/04/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	408 KB

About the Author

For over forty years Susan Rudnick, LCSW, has been listening to people tell their stories in her Manhattan practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. In Edna’s Gift, she tells hers. The seed for her memoir was “Coming Home to Wholeness,” a chapter she contributed to Into the Mountain Stream, a book of personal reflections on psychotherapy and Buddhist Experience. Rudnick, a Zen practitioner, has published haikus as well as articles about psychotherapy in professional journals. Culled from thousands of submissions, one of her haikus appears in New York City Haiku: From the Readers of The New York Times. She and her husband live in Westchester NY, but also love to spend time at their cabin in the Catskills. Being a parent is her greatest joy.

Editorial Reviews

Rudnick’s debut memoir examines her complicated relationship with her developmentally disabled sibling as well as her own tumultuous path to self-acceptance and fulfillment. . . . Rudnick is a talented writer, often displaying a keen ability to capture emotional intensity through concise prose.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Edna’s Gift is the exquisite story of sisters caught in a lifelong struggle for healing and wholeness . . . It moved me profoundly, to laughter and tears, and deserves a place on your bookshelf alongside classic memoirs of sister love, including Elizabeth Lesser’s Marrow.”
—Mark Matousek, author of The Boy He Left Behind and When You’re Falling, Dive

“Edna’s grace and indomitable spirit in spite of her many challenges will inspire readers as it inspired her sister, Susan—and proves that our life’s greatest teacher often turns out to be the person we least expect. Rudnick’s lovely and moving memoir of her own journey toward fully embracing Edna—and herself—is a gift to us all.”
—Barbara Graham, New York Times best-selling author of Eye of My Heart

“Two lives that forever intertwine will draw you in and keep you reading. Each is slightly broken but uniquely whole . . . This book will stay with me for a long time.”
—Kay Berry, an administrator of MRKH Experiences, Advice and Support

“A powerful memoir of a sister’s love for and devotion to her developmentally disabled sister . . . For anyone intrigued by the process of transformation, Edna’s Gift is a source of inspiration.”
—Judith Ruskay Rabinor, PhD, author of A Starving Madness and Befriending Your Ex After Divorce

“Edna’s Gift is an honest, unwavering love story between two sisters—one of whom has developmental delays. Rudnick’s writing had me hooked from the first page.”
—Linda Atwell, author of Loving Lindsey

“The relationship between ‘typical’ and ‘special needs’ siblings is complicated—often not reciprocal in the traditional sense and sometimes fraught with conflicting emotions, it can also bring unexpected riches. Susan Rudnick has given us an eloquently crafted exploration of how her life has been shaped by her sister. The result is an honest, insightful and love-filled memoir.”
—Teresa Sullivan, author of Mikey and Me

“Beautifully written. . . I literally could not put it down.”
—Barbara K Schwartz, PhD, author of Hopeful Paths

“A powerful and intimate account of the trials, tribulations, challenges, and opportunities of being a sibling of a person with disabilities.”
—Avidan Milevsky, PhD, Ariel University, author of Sibling Issues in Therapy

From the Publisher

2019-03-01

Rudnick's debut memoir examines her complicated relationship with her developmentally disabled sibling as well as her own tumultuous path to self-acceptance and fulfillment.

The author was born in New York City in 1944 to German immigrant parents, and her sister, Edna Jane Wile, was born a year later. As young children, the girls were inseparable, but when they entered school, it became increasingly apparent that Edna was lagging behind the other kids. She could read, but she couldn't comprehend abstract concepts; she was mobile, but she was unable to walk with a normal gait; and she didn't have any friends. The author, however, excelled in school and had an active social life. Increasingly, she felt guilty about leaving Edna behind; she saw her sister as a visual manifestation of her family's differentness, she says, which embarrassed her and made her angry and confused. When Edna was 14, the girls' mother found a camp/residential school in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, which would cater to her special needs. "Except for vacations, we would never live together again," Rudnick writes. The author soon discovered that she had her own, hidden disability—she'd been born without a uterus and with an incomplete vaginal canal. It was a devastating blow, she says, that affected the rest of her life. Rudnick is a talented writer, often displaying a keen ability to capture emotional intensity through concise prose. For example, she reveals at the memoir's outset that "Edna was my most treasured companion" and "almost every night I crawled into her bed. With her soft skin, she was so cuddly, so squeezable. I felt safe when I was close to her." As a result, readers are likely to be unsurprised that Rudnick eventually became a practicing psychotherapist. That said, the passages describing the author's four marriages and three divorces sound clinically detached by contrast.

An intriguing and informative look at the challenges of disability.

Kirkus Reviews