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Sarah C. Williams
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Perfectly Human: Nine Months with Cerian Paperback – Oct. 1 2018

by Sarah C. Williams (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 115 ratings
4.6 on Goodreads
282 ratings
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She knew they would only have a few fleeting months together, but in that time Sarah’s unborn daughter would transform her understanding of beauty, worth, and the gift of life.

Happily married and teaching history at the University of Oxford, Sarah Williams had credentials, success, and knowledge. It took someone who would never have any of these things to teach her what it means to be human.

This extraordinary true story begins with the welcome news of a new member of the Williams family. Sarah’s husband, Paul, and their two young daughters share her excitement. But the happiness is short-lived, as a hospital scan reveals a lethal skeletal dysplasia. Birth will be fatal.

Sarah and Paul decide to carry the baby to term, a decision that shocks medical staff and Sarah’s professional colleagues. Sarah and Paul find themselves having to defend their child’s dignity and worth against incomprehension and at times open hostility. They name their daughter, Cerian, Welsh for “loved one.” Sarah writes, “Cerian is not a strong religious principle or a rule that compels me to make hard and fast ethical decisions. She is a beautiful person who is teaching me to love the vulnerable, treasure the unlovely, and face fear with dignity and hope.”

In this candid and vulnerable account, Sarah brings the reader along with her on the journey towards Cerian's birthday and her deathday. It’s rare enough to find a writer who can share such a heart-stretching personal experience without sounding sappy, but here is one who at the same time has the ability to articulate the broader cultural issues raised by Cerian’s story. In a society striving for perfection, where worth is earned, identity is constructed, children are a choice, normal is beautiful, and deformity is repulsive, Cerian’s short life raises vital questions about what we value and where we are headed as a culture.

Perfectly Human was first published in the United Kingdom as The Shaming of the Strong. This edition includes a new afterword by the author.

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  1. Print length
    160 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Plough Publishing House
  4. Publication date
    Oct. 1 2018
  5. Dimensions
    13.97 x 1.4 x 21.59 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0874866693
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0874866698
  8. See all details
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Review

"One of the most profound, insightful, tender, sensitive, though-provoking books I have read in a long time."—Janet Parshall, Talk Show Host

"Readers will be touched by Williams’s story of perseverance, faith, and love."—Publishers Weekly

"It would be a mistake to characterize this book merely as a grief memoir. Williams shifts seamlessly between intimate reflections on love in the midst of tragic loss and incisive commentary on the social structures that framed her experience…. This is an important word for t hose of us wrestling with suffering and struggling for hope."—Christianity Today

"Williams shows us--and perhaps especially those in similar circumstances, having lost a child to miscarriage or stillbirth--that love can triumph even in such agonizing situations. Love remains love, and it remains infinitely precious, even if it’s given for only nine months and seared through with pain. If you haven’t read it, get Perfectly Human. Then give it away: Like love, it deserves sharing."—John Grondelski, The Human Life Review

"This poignant book tells how a British husband and wife discover their unborn daughter has a catastrophic abnormality that will result in certain death. Against the advice of their doctors, they choose to carry the baby to term.... Sarah Williams describes how God drew near to them in their suffering. She notes the ways modern culture dehumanizes the unborn, de-emphasizes fathers, and delights in the perfect."—WORLD Magazine

About the Author

Sarah C. Williams trained as an historian at the University of Oxford, where she subsequently taught British and European political and cultural history. After seventeen years at Oxford, in 2005 she moved with her family to Vancouver, Canada, where she taught history at Regent College. Today Williams lives with her husband Paul in the Cotswolds, close to the city of Oxford, where she continues her research, writing, and teaching. The daughter of popular British author Jennifer Rees Larcombe, Williams is the author of Perfectly Human, a spiritual autobiography in which she reflects on contemporary debates surrounding identity and personhood.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Plough Publishing House (Oct. 1 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0874866693
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0874866698
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 245 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 1.4 x 21.59 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 115 ratings

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Sarah C. Williams

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
115 global ratings

Top reviews from Canada

There are 0 reviews and 9 ratings from Canada

Top reviews from other countries

Laura Rakestraw
5.0 out of 5 stars Achingly beautiful
Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is the most well-written and heart-wrenching book I've read in recent memory. Anyone who has experienced loss and grief (especially the loss of a child) will be encouraged by reading this book. Anyone interested in the ethical dilemmas of our day will find it enriching. Anyone who desires to live out their Christian faith in the midst of suffering will be helped by this book. Can't recommend highly enough!
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J. Hines
5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply thought provoking
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2020
Verified Purchase
Since becoming a believer in and follower of Jesus, I have come to understand the value of life. That I and others are fearfully and wonderfully made. That God knew me even before I was formed in the womb.
However this book has shown me the reality of that fact. Sarah is gifted in her writing of this book and allows the reader to fully experience all that she and her family experienced during these precious nine months given to them. How this experience has changed and shaped their lives forever. Thank you Sarah for sharing this deeply personal experience with us.
I highly recommend this whether you are pro-life or pro-choice.
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Sarah K
5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional story of love and what it means to be human
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2019
Verified Purchase
Sarah Williams is an amazing teacher and writer. I am familiar and quite a fan of her teaching on the subject of Christian History, so I was eager to check out this book. I was moved and impacted profoundly by the story of Cerian. Williams is a beautiful storyteller and this story is a vulnerable, personal one, but also with profound societal implications. Absolutely outstanding.
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C. Charboneau
4.0 out of 5 stars Books are meant to have an outsize impact!
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2020
Verified Purchase
This account of love has deeply affected me. As a man I am expected, by society, not my Creator, to be still and have no opinion or thought on things maternal. In my heart, soul, and mind I know this societal expectation to be garbage but it has made insidious inroads into my life over the years. I have thoughts and opinions which touch upon these basic maternal instincts which I shall never experience in a physical way. I believe Mrs. Williams’ account has helped me to see a deeper shade of beauty and value in the world-shaking realm of life; the bearing, the giving,the living, and the dying.
I am a better man and a better human for the gift of Cerian’s story!
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Mary E. Mahon
5.0 out of 5 stars A very tender story that will challenge us all to rethink the importance of life in Gods great plan
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2020
Verified Purchase
I’m not a critic but as I strong believer in the sanctity of life this is a beautiful account of one families choice to love selflessly and treasure life as Gods gift and allow Gods plan to prevail not ours.
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