Blank Canvas: The Amazing Story of a Woman Who Awoke from a Coma to a Life She Couldn’t Remember

Gregg debuts with a disappointing memoir about how her faith helped her rebuild her life after a case of meningitis wiped 13 years from her memory. In 1990, 30-year-old Gregg woke up in a hospital with no recollection of her husband, her three children, or anything that had happened since she was 17. The author tells the story of her recovery, from the shock of realizing that her nine-year-old sister was actually preparing for college midterms, to her crash course in mothering three young children she did not remember having. Overwhelmed, she tried to hide the extent of her memory loss, pretending to recognize friends from church and bluffing her way through dinner recipes. She developed an alcohol addiction to cope and quit only after recommitting to God and becoming a painter. Gregg writes without much insight or reflection, making her remarkable story feel tame and characterized by the same quotidian concerns—burning the meatloaf, corralling one’s kids while grocery shopping—faced by those without memory loss. Oliver Sacks this is not, but Christian readers looking for an uplifting narrative will be moved by Gregg’s conviction in God’s plan. (Apr.)