Sally Hobart Alexander is a writer of considerable talent and resourcefulness. Taking Hold: My Journey Into Blindness is her powerful autobiography of tragic illness and spiritual triumph.

At 24, Sally Hobart was a schoolteacher, engaged to be married, and living a happy, active life in southern California. Waking up one morning, she discovered that a gray cloud had descended upon everything around her. A trip to the opthamologist's office revealed that she was suffering from a retinal hemorrhage. Several treatments later, her sight steadily deteriorating, Sally began to understand that soon she would be completely blind.