Journalist and author Paula Butturini's dramatic story of the struggle against depression
which reared its ugly head after her husband, John Tagliabue of the New York Times,
was shot in Romania where he was following the fall of the Communist regime. Having
met here in Rome in the 1980’s, their life seemed like the perfect love story. Two
Italo-Americans finding romance in the land of their forefathers, two foreign correspondents
sharing a passion for reporting, for asking questions, for seeking out the truth as
history unfolds. But John's brush with death from a sniper's bullet and Paula's
own beating by police in Prague sparked off a chain of events that changed their lives,
and those of their children, forever.
"If the phone would ring, or the doorbell
would ring, he might have a panic attack, he might go into our bedroom and hide under
the bedcovers or beat his head against the wall....it was absolutely horrifying..."
Paula’s
words will ring true for anyone who has watched a loved one battle the demons of depression,
struggling to find the will to live, to get out of bed and survive another day. That’s
why she decided to share her story, to write a book about some very practical ways
of coping with mental health problems in the family. But ‘Keeping the Feast’
is more than that, it’s also a book about the power of God’s grace to help us through
even those darkest nights, a very human story of hope and healing through food, friendships
and faith….