Rain on a Distant Roof: Personal Journey Through Lyme Disease in Canada, A

by Vanessa Farnsworth

By 2020, it’s estimated that more than 80 percent of the population of eastern Canada will be living in regions that are endemic for Lyme disease and the numbers of infections are expected to soar. Yet what remains unknown about this debilitating illness continues to trump what is known, placing the health of Canadians increasingly at risk.

Rain on a Distant Roof uses the latest in scientific and medical research to explore the considerable challenges that have placed Lyme disease at the center of the most fractious debate in modern medicine. Those challenges include the inability of doctors to properly diagnose the illness, the absence of reliable medical tests, the reliance on controversial treatment guidelines, and a public health response that is, at best, problematic.

Along the way, readers are introduced to the bizarrely intelligent bacterium at the root of the Lyme disease – a bacterium so strange that scientists describe it in terms normally reserved for the creatures found only in science fiction - by the author, whose own terrifying battle with the disease unfolds before the reader’s eyes.

This groundbreaking book, a compelling mixture of biography and scientific discovery, is a must-read for anyone who spends time in nature or even their own backyard.

Genres: Emotional

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2013

About the author

Vanessa is the author of Rain on a Distant Roof: A Personal Journey Through Lyme Disease in Canada, The Haweaters, and The Things She'll Be Leaving Behind.

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good memoir of a journey through a horrible disease. Well written and researched. Information on the disease was easy to digest.
I found the personal hallucinations a bit boring but understand their importance to the telling of the journey.

[Yycdaisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read. The memoir parts can be a bit hard to take but the information on ticks, Lyme disease and co-infections is not to be missed.

[Sjm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so well done. It combines memoir with non-fiction in a way that is digestible, despite how heavy the issue is. Great read if you want to understand what it's like to have Lyme Disease in Canada.

Read my interview with the author here: http://cookiesbookclub.blogspot.ca/20...