My Name is Mary: A Memoir

Fisher (Sleep with the Angels) shifts gears in the middle of this autobiography, which starts as a whiny account bemoaning the divorce of her parents, her birth father's subsequent loss of interest in her, her mother's alcoholism, her own alcoholism and her two failed marriages. But the mood alters abruptly when ex-second husband Brian is diagnosed with AIDS and Fisher learns that she is HIV-positive. The shock of her death sentence transforms her into a stalwart battler for those similarly afflicted: she goes public with her illness and becomes such an activist and prominent speaker that she is invited to address the Republican national convention in 1992, where she shines. As ``the Republican poster girl for AIDS,'' Fisher continues to be a courageous activist, and now views herself as ``a pilgrim on the road to AIDS.'' The last few chapters especially are filled with deeply moving passages. Photos not seen by PW. (Jan.)