The Boy In The Moon — His Disabled Child

Image by Paul L. Nettles via Flickr

We all know, and sometimes deeply envy, people like them: good-looking, blessed with interesting well-paid work they excel at. It all looks so easy. We never know the inside story, until or unless there is a crack in that gleaming, polished exterior.

Ian Brown, a name known by many Canadians and few Americans as a funny, smart award-winning writer, is one of those people. We met a few decades ago when we both worked at The Globe and Mail, he a dishy blond with an intriguingly broken nose and an air of supreme confidence highly unusual in a nation, that like Australia, adheres to the “tall poppy” syndrome — stick up too high and, to punish you for your hubris, you will be cut down.

In Brown’s case, it was the birth of his son, Walker, now 13, born with a severe disability shared by 100 people in the world that leveled him and his wife, Johanna Schneller a fellow journalist, whose work has appeared in major glossy American magazines. This child, and how their lives have been forever changed by his challenges, is the subject of his new memoir, “The Boy In The Moon,” termed “a work of art” in the Globe’s review.

Ian is one of the best and most honest writers I know. I hope you’ll check it out.