Vienna Parent Who Lost Child in Freak Flash Flood Pens Memoir About Experience

A Vienna parent who lost her child in 2011 to a flash flood in Vienna has written a memoir about her experience. Anna Whiston-Donaldson’s book “Rare Bird,” will be available Sept. 9.

“I try to be real and honest,” she told the Washington Post about “Rare Bird,” in a recent interview. “But I’m not an expert on grief. It’s just my experience.”

Read: Child Dies After Falling in Vienna Creek

Here’s a description of the book on Amazon and a video about the book (below) narrated by Whiston-Donaldson, from publisher Convergent Books.

“Are you brave enough to step into the light?

On an ordinary September day, twelve-year-old Jack is swept away in a freak neighborhood flood. His parents and younger sister are left to wrestle with the awful questions: How could God let this happen? And, Can we ever be happy again? They each fall into the abyss of grief in different ways. And in the days and months to come, they each find their faltering way toward peace.

In Rare Bird, Anna Whiston-Donaldson unfolds a mother’s story of loss that leads, in time, to enduring hope. “Anna’s storytelling,” says Glennon Doyle Melton, “is raw and real and intense and funny.”

With this unforgettable account of a family’s love and longing, Anna will draw you deeper into a divine goodness that keeps us—beyond all earthly circumstances—safe. This is a book about facing impossible circumstances and wanting to turn back the clock. It is about the flicker of hope in realizing that in times of heartbreak, God is closer than your own skin. It is about discovering that you’re braver than you think.”