THE HARD PARTS

A Paralympics champion shares her journey from tragedy to greatness.

Masters was born in 1989 in Ukraine with a host of birth defects caused by her mother’s radiation exposure following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. “My legs don’t stand straight because I’m missing the weight-bearing bones below my knees, which makes walking awkward and slow on the bones I do have in there,” writes the author. “I was also born missing the enamel on my teeth, part of my stomach, my right biceps, and one kidney. The other kidney sits in the wrong spot in my body.” Relinquished to the government by her birthparents, she was further scarred by her experiences in abusive orphanages. At age 7, she was adopted by Gay Masters, an unmarried American speech pathologist. After relocating to the U.S., she began a series of grueling surgeries, including hand procedures and the removal of both legs above the knee. Despite difficulties assimilating to American culture, her unquenchable athletic spirit blazed on as she began adaptive rowing at age 13. The sport proved to be a “lighthouse through the violent storms, signaling the way to survival.” She worked her way into competitions in pararowing, cycling, cross-country skiing, and biathlon, and she represented the U.S. in the Paralympic Games, winning a groundbreaking succession of awards and endorsements. She has won 17 Paralympic medals, the most of any athlete in the Winter Games, and she also posed nude in ESPN’s 2012 Body Issue. While the story of her lifesaving adoption is heartfelt and touching, the author’s journey to unprecedented athletic success is the thrilling heart of the memoir. Narrated in amiable yet urgent prose, the text fully depicts her earnest struggle for identity and fight to overcome abandonment issues. Her confident story about overcoming odds also serves as a powerful teaching tool for younger readers facing similar circumstances.

An inspirational, empowering chronicle of athletic strength and personal resiliency.