A Flower Between The Cracks, is a powerful and honest account of hope and love, of the contrast between the struggle with rehabilitation and the optimism of the survivor.

Suffering severe injuries from a car accident, 22 year-old Jayne is left lying in a coma for weeks as her mother watches on. Helen spends the time writing, filling pages of her diary as well as penning letters to her yet unmoving daughter. The horror of being forced to simply wait by, helpless to act, is illuminated through these passages. When Jayne does awaken and then gradually regains further cognition, we read of the profound joys that this holds for her family even while Helen is careful to remain realistic. She is determined to accept that her once fully self-sufficient daughter will now require supervision for the rest of her life and that she will never be the ‘old Jayne’ again.

Snapshots of Jayne’s journey of rehabilitation compose the vast majority of this memoir and interspersed throughout are heartbreaking fragments of Helen’s letters to Jayne along with snippets of Jayne’s poetry. Helen also includes extracts drawn from numerous personal accounts of survival stories that she reads, researches and draws solace from during her own journey caring for Jayne.

This hybrid structure coupled with Helen’s candidness makes for a thoughtful read, providing insight into the complexities of what it means to care for a disabled loved one while simultaneously expressing the grace that can be gained by undertaking such a momentous responsibility.

Hayley Stockall