Late one night, Rebecca Fogg's hand is partially amputated in an explosion at her apartment. Quick thinking saves her, but the path to recovery is slow. As doctors reconstruct her hand, Rebecca (who also survived September 11th) reconstructs her sense of self by studying the physical and psychological process of recovery.

Interspersing the personal with the medical, Rebecca chronicles her year of recovery, touching on the wonderfully adaptive anatomy of the hand; how the brain's reaction mechanism suppresses conscious thought so we can react instantaneously to danger; and why trauma causes some people to develop PTSD while offering others a new perspective on their lives.

Through great emotional and intellectual clarity, Beautiful Trauma explores the tough nature of the human spirit and the power we all have in our hands.

Pages: 272, Dimensions: 12.8x12.8cm