Author Draws From Personal Experience with Autistic Son
For immediate release: Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the world, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, impacting 1 in 88 children. Author D’Ann Renner intimately knows the struggles associated with this disorder. Renner pulls from her own personal experiences as well as those of others to write about the love, fear, stress and joy that accompanies life with a special needs child in her new novel Dancing From the Shadows (Ambassador International; October 2012; $14.99, paperback). Early reviews from professionals and parents praise the book as accurate, painful, funny and encouraging.
Renner left a successful career in marketing to follow God’s call to adopt a sibling pair of third-world orphans. A year later her son Luke was diagnosed with autism. “For a long time I was angry at God for putting this burden on me and my family,” explains Renner. “But eventually I discovered that from adversity comes remarkable growth. That, plus acceptance of special needs as a gift are themes I carried through Dancing From the Shadows.”
Dancing From the Shadows follows successful businesswoman Tori St. John who adopts two children from a third-world orphanage. When Tori’s son Gabe is diagnosed with autism, she becomes obsessed with finding a cure, a fixation that threatens to unravel her family. Tori must learn how to balance a life she can’t control and embrace a different concept of normal.
Renner lives in John’s Creek, Georgia, with her husband Bruce, and teenagers Sophia and Luke. When not busy as a Home Front Manager, Renner delivers humor-dipped truth to groups across the country as a public speaker. She also facilitates her church’s Guatemala Child Sponsorship Program. For more information visit the author’s website at dannrenner.com. To connect with the author please contact Ambassador International publicist Alison Storm via email at [email protected].
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