"This book is a treasure!" --Ursula K. Le Guin "An appealing first novel told with beguiling honesty and humor. Life affirming without sentimentality . the portrayal of love and growth rings absolutely true." --Kirkus Reviews "A fresh, bright novel about a woman''s awakening in a dying town." --Booklist Nowle''s Passing "[A] thoughtful, well-written novel." --New York Times Book Review "A story, like a timeless New England landscape, that lingers in the best possible way." --Kirkus Reviews "Forbes employs exquisitely precise language to tell a hopeful story of one woman''s emergence from a self-made cocoon.

" --Publisher''s Weekly This is a remarkably intelligent and inspirational account of finding a personal path to living positively with the uncertainties of MS. Interwoven with a page-turning chronicle of growing up shy and gay on a Wyoming family ranch is a meticulous investigation of the evolving scientific understanding of MS. The author would be my perfect patient--inquisitive, well-informed, respectful of medicine, and yet thoughtful about balancing the potential benefits of treatment against the attendant intrusions on everyday life with constant reminders of having a chronic ailment. --Ford von Reyn MD, DSc (Hon), professor of medicine, Geisel School of Medicine Edith Forbes is a citizen scientist who grew up on a family ranch where she and her brothers and sisters were armed with clipboards to collect data about the cattle raised there, analyze it, and report the results. Her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis . led Edith to conduct a multi-decade research study of a single subject, herself. With the help of her brother-in-law, a cancer researcher, Edith uncovered how dairy could be linked to an autoimmune reaction--and that industrial agriculture could actually be the root cause. Fascinating reading for anyone who wants to learn more about how what we eat can affect our health and well-being.

--Gail Nickel-Kailing, GoodFood World Edith Forbes''s account of her quest to understand a little-understood disease will be useful not only to those with MS but also to everyone making choices in a medical system that doesn''t have all the answers. A lucid thinker, a dogged researcher, and a graceful writer whose sentences are simultaneously lyrical and spare, Forbes shows us how an understanding of one''s illness is inextricably connected to an understanding of one''s life.--George Howe Colt , author of The Big House, Brothers, and The Game Nearly three decades after she experienced the early signs of multiple sclerosis, Edith Forbes has written an extraordinary memoir recounting her experiment with an unorthodox--yet successful to date--treatment to prevent the highly unpredictable flare-ups of this potentially devastating disease. Early on, this shy (by her own words) novelist / musician / data programmer / rancher / farmer resisted medical therapies, deciding, instead, to trust what her body was telling her and what her research supported to manage her MS through strict dietary manipulation. The book describes the considerable strength of character and bravery it took to overcome the fears and occasional self-doubts that accompany any act that deviates from the mainstream. Forbes handles her fear not by denial but by owning it. She "offer(s) it the passenger seat and suggest(s) it fasten its seatbelt" as she travels with it on this highly informative and honest experimental journey. There is a lot to learn from this well-researched, highly readable, and compelling account of not only MS but also the state of the US healthcare system and our personal responsibility to act in a way that will benefit not just ourselves but others in our society as well.

This very personal account of her experience should serve as an inspiration for others looking for support in facing similar challenges. --Dr. Stephen J. Atwood, MD.