Book Review: To Where You Are

2023 NAIWE Narrative Nonfiction Book Winner

 

To Where You Are

Author: Jason Fisher

When a couple gets married and makes the commitment until death do us part, they often imagine that the parting will occur many years later, likely when they are old and have had a long life together. However, that is not what happened to Jason Fisher.

In his memoir, To Where You Are, Jason Fisher opens the book with only 15 minutes before an early morning conference call. He helps his daughter with breakfast and then to the playroom, and his wife to their bed to rest after experiencing back pain.

By 9:15 am, Jason is calling an ambulance, and a few hours later his wife is dead.

The introduction to this novel was very compelling and powerful, allowing the reader to feel the roller coaster that the author was on that fateful day. Before the reader can catch their breath, Jason takes them to the days when he and his wife met, their dreams, and their short marriage together.

The Fishers had dreams of having three children and a dog. They were excited by the news that they were pregnant and thought it would be best to move back to Alabama to be close to family. Sadly, compilations arose, forcing their baby girl to be born at 27 weeks via emergency C-section weighing a mere 1 ½ pounds. Their daughter, Mackenzie, would spend the next four months in NICU and face many challenges, including being born with a brain bleed and later being diagnosed with a rare syndrome.

Jason Fisher writes about the love and heartache that filled his life for nearly a decade and how he created a new path in life with his nonverbal daughter.

To Where You Are emphasizes that one can find the strength and the reason to continue living in the midst of shattered dreams and without the love and support of a spouse.

Congratulations, Jason Fisher’s To Where You Are for being a NAIWE 2023 Book Award winner!