This is Alice's story—a girl brimming with joy in life—told through the pages of her diary, woven together with her mother's account.
At eight years old, Alice dies of cancer. Her mother wants her teachings to live on. So she says: "I will never forget what we are living through. I will try to share it with others, because people deserve to know." They do deserve to know. As Cardinal Martini writes in the foreword, "To hold writings like these in your hands is not like turning the pages of a book—you find yourself swept up at once, caught in the current of lived experience that asks not for commentary but only for understanding and compassion."
And I would add: a tender gratitude to little Alice who, through her suffering, teaches us how to live and how to die.
M.B.