Take My Hand

The Extraordinary Story of a Girl Named Janis

Janis Revell did not come into this world easily. But from the moment she was born she was her mother's love. At the age thirty-four Jan died. She was a gifted, comical, exciting, vibrant, intellectual, and a challenging individual. Her spirituality and sensitivity produced tremendous joy for those who knew her.

It is a moving story of joy, family warmth, and of bright achievement tarnished by the coldness and failures of dreary and inefficient bureaucracy and highlights the shining examples set by caring volunteers, in stark contrast to the paid functionaries of grey, faceless and dismissive authority.

Above all, this book is a searing indictment of a system in which closing ranks is more important than establishing the truth, and in which the concerns of those who are subject to the system are treated with arrogant dismissiveness.

In Take My Hand, Audrey Revell paints a vivid and moving picture of the life and indomitable spirit of her daughter Janis, an exceptionally talented musician and composer despite having lost her sight as a child together with progressive hearing loss. Enduring and overcoming all the difficulties and disappointments of a lifelong fight against the rare and incurable disease Retinitis Pigmentosa.

This is a true story of love, dedication, shining devotion and black betrayal by the system.

This is Audrey Revell's honest, heart-breaking, funny, powerful, and sometimes controversial story of the life and dreadful, harrowing death of her daughter, written to fulfill a promise she made to Jan before her life support was switched off.

It is also a tribute to Janis. It is lovingly and honestly written in unsparing graphic terms in the hope that it will challenge you to a better understanding of many issues.

SENSE: "It is a powerful and moving story which goes into some painful and difficult areas."
THE FOREST BOOK SHOP: "A powerful and very moving story."