Fireflies: Finding Light on a Journey Through Addiction (Unabridged‪)‬

A deeply honest and harrowing true story a wife’s dive through her husband’s alcoholism and recovery.

A pediatric speech-language pathologist and mother to a three-year-old, Lea Lauks was slowly unravelling, barely holding it together caring for her son and a houseful of animals. Beneath her husband David’s seemingly successful life as a doctor, he was a trembling wreck, hiding away in his study during evenings and weekends so he could drink in peace. Feeling stuck and helpless, Lea learns to survive around it and adapts to life as a single parent, taking their son on outings to protect him from seeing his father hungover or wasted.

At 40, David was showing the beginnings of liver failure and fighting for his survival. Capturing the tension and drama, Lea recounts his painful descent from depression into his secret dependency, the wretchedness of detox and his time in rehab. Struggling to save her husband, his career and their marriage, she turns it all around with the help of friends and strangers in her Al-Anon meeting who come to her aid. She eventually forges a path ahead to find forgiveness, peace, and a new, richer life.

Anyone who has struggled with addiction or seeking sobriety will find this life-affirming story, full of heartbreak and hard-won wisdom, inspiring.