Preserving Light is more than a memoir. It is a multigenre journey of the human experience. Sometimes funny, unfailingly honest, it offers a unique examination of coping with loss, disappointment, and ambiguity.
In Preserving Light, author Gail Hartman uses the intimate and moving experience of her husband's illnesses and death as cause to reflect upon her life: from growing up in Manhattan -- including her adolescence sleeping above Lillian Hellman in the playwright's brownstone -- to holding jobs at the National Geographic Society, the University of North Dakota and Minnesota Public Radio, experiencing love and loss along the way. At the heart of it all, is the story "One Lucky Widow." In it she tells of her husband's last ten years leading to his death, the deep love they had for one another, and the unexpected richness that unfolded after he was gone, as she began to live the life she had feared for so many years. For Hartman, there is always the presence of light. She keeps it in a jar and saves it for those moments when the night is too long, the day is too cold, and the heart needs to be warmed.