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The memoir, which follows the true story of the author's twenty-year marriage as defined by her husband's chronic illness, has been called "wrenching, immersive...Her memoir has aspects of medical mystery and horror story, but most readers will leave it with the impression of having taken in a love story as blisteringly beautiful as it is truthful." The New York Times selected it for its Group Text Book Club and named it a Notable Book of 2021. It will be released in paperback in June. 

 Eleanor Henderson is the Chair of the Department of Writing, where she has taught since 2010. She is also the author of two novels, The Twelve-Mile Straight and Ten Thousand Saints, which was a finalist for a Los Angeles Times Book Award and was adapted into a film starring Ethan Hawke. She also co-edited the anthology Labor Day: True Birth Stories by Today's Best Women Writers. 

 The Robert Ryan Professorship in the Humanities is project-based and awarded for a three-year term on a competitive basis from applicants in the departments of Art History, English, History, Modern Languages and Literatures, Philosophy/Religion, and Writing, as well as from among those teaching humanities-based courses in Communication Studies. The award consists of a one-course reduction in teaching load each semester for three consecutive years. 

 Professor Ryan’s forty-year career in the History Department was distinguished by his dedication to students, his integrative vision of the humanities, and his continuing commitment to intellectual renewal. Given this legacy, the selection committee accepted humanities proposals of all types—including those focused upon scholarly, pedagogical, or creative projects—and preference was given to proposals that demonstrated distinctive connections among humanities disciplines.  

 The next Robert Ryan Professor will be Professor Robert Sullivan.