Back Talk

Joan Weimer had spent three years researching the life of 19th century novelist Constance Fenimore Woolson for a critical biography when a devastating back injury left her virtually immobile. Pain reshaped her research as she discovered more about Woolson's writing, family, and grief. The imaginative relationship she developed with Woolson - chronicled in this book - helped Weimer to escape her physical disability as she wrestled with the question of how to redefine herself. In this memoir, Weimer's discoveries - documentative and imaginative, historical and personal - reveal much about what motivates research, and what motivates healing.