Trying To Be Positive (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781514276044)

Life hasn't always been easy for Jill Allen, whose parents died when she was a teen. These days, however, she enjoys her comfortable Southern California existence as a wife and mother of a college-age daughter.

But then Aunt Molly, who raised Jill and her sister, tests positive for a BRCA gene mutation. Jill is confronted with the harsh reality that she too might be BRCA positive, with a high risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Will that mean a mastectomy? Or surgery to remove her ovaries?

Meanwhile, Jill is shocked to realize that her husband has betrayed her. With her once-happy suburban life collapsing around her, she's determined to find firmer footing.

Genealogical clues related to the family BRCA mutation prompt a trip to England. From there, she journeys to France to visit Aunt Molly, currently in remission. Along the way, encounters with other people reveal unexpected and forgotten sides of herself, motivating her to rethink her identity and how she will move forward-alone, with her husband, or maybe with a new man in her life.

Inspiring and insightful, Trying to Be Positive is among the first novels to explore living with a BRCA gene mutation.