Lucy Grealy

Lucy Grealy is the author of "Mirrorings," in which she reflects on her experience as a woman who is forced to live with facial disfigurement. At the age of nine, doctors discovered a malignant tumor in her cheek and the surgery to remove it left that side of her face hollow. Traces of the cancer remained and she was forced to undergo months of painful and difficult chemotherapy. Through all of this, she was constantly praised for her bravery—which she identified with simply with hiding the pain. As she grew older, she continued to try to be brave and, concretely, this meant hiding the emotional toll her facial disfigurement took on her. She tried various ways to psychologically overcome it. She was a naturally bright young woman and tried to use her superior intellect to elevate herself above her peers, but such arrogance was bound...