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A wheelchair-bound woman offers exemplary counsel about the nature of forgiveness and true faith in this inspiring book. Author Rate, trapped in an abusive marriage, turned to the solace of alcohol. At an especially desperate juncture, she took a job as a caregiver for Angelina, who was slowly wasting away from a spinal tumor. Yet Angelina was surprisingly organized. She knew her body's needs and precisely how a caretaker could assist to the smallest detail. She was alert and efficient, arranging shopping trips and handling finances. Rate began to realize that Angelina possessed Socratic wisdom and a deep Christian faith, motivating her to make positive changes in her own depressed, anxiety-ridden life. Angelina refused to complain or harbor bitterness and projected a sense of a strong, vibrant soul living within an injured body. These qualities she shared and gradually transferred to the admiring Rate, who was soon able to solve her problems in the light of Angelina's perseverance.
Rate, who has changed names in constructing this heartwarming memoir, obviously saw her employer as an angelic figure who rescued her from a downward spiral of hopelessness and alcoholism. She writes candidly about her faults and mistakes, meaningfully contrasting them with the messages of hope and deeper understanding coming from her invalid employer. Among the lessons learned was meeting Angelina's fundamentalist religious friends, about whom Rate felt initial prejudice, and coming to realize that they were simple folk who shared all they had with Angelina and she with them. The book resolves itself with Rate's improved lifestyle and sobriety, divorcing her abusive spouse and reuniting with her daughter, and mutually forgiving the past traumas between them. Through Angelina's words and without sermonizing, the author presents rational religious insights that could offer guidance to readers trapped in difficult life situations.