The Twelfth Raven

When Doris Brett's fit, healthy 59-year-old husband Martin had a stroke, they were unexpectedly thrown into a journey of discovery. What began as a minor stroke turned into a golf-ball sized blood clot on his brain, followed by a life-threatening heart condition.

Later Brett learned that she carried the potentially deadly BRCA1 genetic mutation. However - due largely to Doris' research into brain plasticity and the neurotherapy techniques she implemented - Martin's recovery was exceptional and he has now returned to all of his pre-stroke activities.

The Twelfth Raven is a literary journey through a series of crises, and an inspirational story of recovery after stroke. Doris Brett's brave and unflinching memoir offers hope to the hundreds of thousands of people affected by stroke, through the active intervention Doris conducted and the excellent results that were achieved.

Read Caroline Baum's Review

Stroke is our top killer. We need to know more about it. Doris Brett is the perfect navigator into this strange country. Her calm, candid and considered prose documents what happened when her husband had a stroke which saw him lose most of his basic functions. Their journey together into the world of neuroplasticity and recovery is full of insights into the science of the brain and the emotional impact of being a ceaselessly committed carer. Brett's own personal medical setbacks add to her challenges, but she faces everything with dignity and stoicism.

About the Author

Doris Brett resides in Melbourne with her husband and daughter. She is a clinical psychologist as well as a multi-award winning author and poet. She has been published in America, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and Russia. She has been awarded numerous literary awards for her poetry, including the Queensland Premier's Poetry Award. In The Constellation of the Crab a collection of poems that arose out of her experience with ovarian cancer was short-listed for the National Book Council Poetry Prize.