Stella Link Books

Joni Rodgers lives in Texas, where big hair is a God-given right. It's essential to any waitressing job, prerequisite for a real estate license, as natural as Naugahyde, and as important as Elvis. But at thirty-two, Joni was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and lost her hair to chemotherapy. It's not fun being a bald girl in the Big Hair Capital of America, but Joni managed to hold on to her sanity -- and her sense of humor.

With two small children, a grizzly bear of a husband, and a pipedream she couldn't let go of, Joni found herself hanging by a thread, searching for inspiration, and ultimately discovering that the monster threatening to take her life was actually teaching her how to live it. With the same amazing ability to laugh at life, and herself, that helped her survive cancer, Joni now recounts her story -- a deeply affecting tale of industrial-strength drugs, healing herbs, love, sex, prayer, kids, career, and the search for a wig that won't make her look like Betty Rubble.

This 10th Anniversary ebook edition includes a foreword by Elizabeth Berg, Q&A with author Joni Rodgers, and other bonus content.

“Thoroughly enjoyable, idiosyncratic, and funny…an uplifting celebration of life.”
London Daily Mail

"A brave, uplifting, hilarious, and heartbreaking book. One of the best books I've read this year. I loved it." -- Patricia Gaffney, author of The Saving Graces

"A mix of Molly Ivins' blowsy wit and Anna Quindlen's suburban logic, anages [a] literary feat." -- Entertainment Weekly

"A very important book, not only about cancer...[but] also about how to ground yourself in the life you're living." -- Elizabeth Berg author of Open House

"Impressive...honest...gutsy..." -- Janet Maslin, New York Times

"Memoirs of a cancer survivor with a delicious sense of humor and a well-defined sense of self. Darkly comic, inspiring." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Rodgers' attitude...is what sets her book apart from others by and about cancer survivors, earning it a wider audience." -- Dayton Daily News

"Rodgers's attempt to convey serious business lightly is commendable..." -- Publishers Weekly

"[A]candid and amusing memoir." -- People