The Book Nook and Cavendish Fletcher Community Library will co-host an author talk by Carmen Blandin Tarleton on Saturday May 17 at 1pm at the Cavendish Fletcher Community Library.

On June 10, 2007, Carmen Blandin Tarleton’s estranged husband broke into her rural Vermont home, beat her with a baseball bat, and doused her with industrial-strength lye. Doctors called it “the most horrific injury a human being could suffer.” Tarleton spent the next three and a half months in a medically induced coma, and when she awoke, it was to an unimaginable reality: she was blind and permanently disfigured, with burns covering more than eighty percent of her body. Her recovery would include weeks of painful rehab, dozens of surgeries, and total dependence on family, friends, and strangers for physical and financial care. With so much taken away, no one could have anticipated what Tarleton would gain from her experience: an awakening. A purpose. Joy. By sharing her struggles and ultimate victory over catastrophic loss, Tarleton proves that life is a choice—and, in the process, offers a rare glimpse into the best and worst corners of the human heart. Visit http://www.overcomebook.com/ for more details on Carmen Blandin Tarleton.