Cancer in Two Voices

Sandra Butler; Barbara Rosenblum

When Cancer in Two Voices was first published in 1991, one out of every nine women in the U.S was at risk of developing breast cancer. Now, as the second edition of this popular book is released, we learn that the odds of getting breast cancer have increased to one in eight. When her advanced breast cancer was diagnosed in 1985, Barbara Rosenblum realized that she was ‘only the first’ among her friends to get sick. Rosenblum and her lesbian partner, Sandra Butler, resolved to make the most of their remaining years together. One of the things they did was write this book. Butler and Rosenblum’s separate diary entries describe the social and emotional, as well as the physical, effects of breast cancer on their lives. This edition includes a new introduction by Butler, in which she writes about finding hope in the midst of this epidemic.

‘I am only the first among our friends to have cancer. There will be others…Such a weighty responsibility, to be the first…’

Barbara Rosenblum wrote these words on March 7, 1985, two weeks after she had been diagnosed as being in the advanced stages of breast cancer. She died in the arms of her life partner, Sandra Butler, on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1988. During the three years between Barbara’s diagnosis and her death, she and Sandra documented the impact of the illness on both of their lives. Recipient of a Lambda Literary Award, and lauded by Publishers Weekly as a “landmark feminist perspective on breast cancer,” this compilation of Barbara and Sandy’s essays, journal entries, and letters provide a unique glimpse into the intimate lives of two women in a relationship crisis. This book is testimony to the power of love to transform experience, to celebrate life in the face of impending loss.

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Details

ISBN	1883523168
Genre	Autobiography/Biography
Publication Date	Sep-96
Publisher	Spinsters Ink Books
Format	Trade Paperback
No. of Pages	275
Notes	Recipient of a Lambda Literary Award
Language	English
Rating	NotRated
Subject	Autobiography
BookID	1712

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Cancer in Two Voices by Sandra Butler; Barbara Rosenblum