Mermaid: A Memoir of Resilience
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: Jan 20, 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9780393089011
Description: A woman born without legs describes her life growing up as one of eleven children in a large Catholic family, wearing prosthetics, going to school, facing bullies, and searching for love and happiness.

Cronin, born without legs, describes her life growing up as one of eleven children in a large Catholic family, wearing prosthetics, going to school, facing bullies, and searching for love and happiness. She felt most comfortable and happiest relaxing and skinny dipping with her girlfriends, imagining herself "an elusive mermaid." As her mother battled mental illness, Cronin tried to get her to say whether she took thalidomide during her 1960 pregnancy. Eventually she found the strength to set out on her own, volunteering at hospitals, earning a PhD in clinical psychology, and developing her capacity to forgive and accept life as a journey of self-discovery and transformation.