One Strong Girl is a mother's vivid account of what it is like to lose her daughter, India, to a rare debilitating disease. The story is a bold description of what it means to deal with deep sorrow and still find balance and beauty in an age steeped in the denial of death. At ten, India climbed the highest on the rope at gymnastics, yet by sixteen was so weak she was unable to even dress herself. The narrative follows the six-year fight for answers from the medical community. Finally, after the genetic testing of India's DNA, it was discovered there were two mutations on her ASAH1 gene, a deadly combination. Today her cells are alive in a research lab at the University of Ottawa. This is a legacy that cuts both ways, a point of pride and pain. One Strong Girl is a story of what it's like to outlive an only child. It describes the intensity of loving a dying child and most importantly, the joy to be found, even amidst the sorrow.

S. Lesley Buxton studied acting at Mountview Theatre School in London, England, and has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Lesley’s first book, One Strong Girl, won the inaugural Pottersfield Prize for Creative Nonfiction. Her essays and short stories have appeared in leading Canadian magazines and anthologies such as Love Me True, Today’s Parent, Reader’s Digest, This Magazine, Hazlitt, The Fiddlehead, and The New Quarterly. She is also the co-author, along with Sue Harper, of the books in the Time to Wonder series of family oriented guidebooks highlighting regional museums in British Columbia. Lesley lives in Penticton, British Columbia.

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