Talk Softly
A Memoir
Seven Stories Press · Print & ebook · May 4, 2010
Actress and model Cynthia O'Neal was living her dream life—married to the famous stage and screen actor Patrick O’Neal, the mother of two young sons, resident of the Dakota downstairs from John Lennon, owner of the successful Ginger Man restaurant, and frequent guest at dinner parties with Leonard Bernstein and Rudolf Nureyev.
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- Who it’s for
- Cynthia O’Neal recounts AIDS-era caregiving, her husband’s death, and the life changes that followed.
- Themes
- AIDS-era caregiving, Bereavement, Compassion
- Genres
- Personal Memoirs, Lives in Entertainment, HIV & AIDS
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Actress and model Cynthia O'Neal was living her dream life—married to the famous stage and screen actor Patrick O’Neal, the mother of two young sons, resident of the Dakota downstairs from John Lennon, owner of the successful Ginger Man restaurant, and frequent guest at dinner parties with Leonard Bernstein and Rudolf Nureyev. And then she changed course suddenly, surprisingly, and completely.
Continue reading
The AIDS epidemic hit the arts community hard, and after seeing the multitude of people facing an unfamiliar and stigmatized disease completely alone, Cynthia walked into the fray. With the support of longtime friend Mike Nichols, she founded Friends in Deed and soon found herself spending her days in hospitals, cramped rooms, and dirty apartments, anywhere a patient needed a hug, a hand held, or confidence boosted. And when Patrick became ill and passed away in 1994, Cynthia had to work through her own grief instead of someone else’s and found her life transformed again. Talk Softly is the story of a life well-lived—with passion and compassion, in celebration of the joy of each moment, and with the ability to surprise yourself when you least expect to.
Care and Bereavement
Cynthia O’Neal recounts AIDS-era caregiving, her husband’s death, and the life changes that followed.
Come here for
- Cynthia O’Neal’s work supporting people facing AIDS
- Her grief after Patrick O’Neal’s death
Expect
- An account of hospital and home visits to people facing AIDS
- A memoir that also traces O’Neal’s own bereavement
Where it sits
| Personal Memoirs | 69% |
|---|---|
| HIV & AIDS | 44% |
| Lives in Entertainment | 40% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Lives of the Rich & Famous
- Social Scientists' Lives
- HIV & AIDS
- Authors
- Cynthia O'Neal
- Publisher
- Seven Stories Press
- Published
- May 4, 2010
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- AIDS-era caregiving · Bereavement · Compassion
- Reading lane
- Lives of the Rich & Famous