The Rules of Inheritance

Claire Bidwell Smith, a fourteen-year-old only child, learns that both her parents have cancer. The fear of becoming a family of one compels her to make a series of fraught choices, set against the glittering backdrop of New York and Los Angeles - and the pall of regret.

When the inevitable happens and Claire is alone in the world, she is inconsolable at the revelation that suddenly she is no one's special person. It is only later, when Claire falls in love, marries, and becomes a mother, that she emerges from the fog of grief.

Using the five stages of grief as a window onto her personal experience, Claire Bidwell Smith has written a powerful memoir that is at once exquisite and profound.

The Rules of Inheritance is a moving narrative of finding strength and understanding in the midst of loss and discovering one's own special place in the world.