The Making of a Mechanical Heart: Self-discovery, joy, and forgiveness on the road to dying - Joanne Felice Boucher

This is not a poor-me story. Boucher pulls us through a series of captivating scenes, from her tough and at times hilarious upbringing in the 1950s and 1960s in Lewiston, Maine, to her days as a single mom and art student in Portland, to portraits of lovers along the way. Then cancer arrives, and a chance meeting with Buddhist teachings begins to heal her heart.