In my novel, Brenda Corrigan Went Downtown, my protagonist is attacked and undergoes facial reconstruction. As she tries to cope with the reality that her pretty, though aging, face has been usurped by one misshapen and scarred, she is determined to rely on other strengths, noting that the blind hear everything, the deaf see all.

Wit remains her mainstay: When a group of women enter a posh Beverly Hills restaurant, Brenda observes their plastic surgery results. “Were those faces all cut from the same stencil?” she asks her daughter. “They all look like gaping fish.”

We all confront the loss of physical beauty and learn to rely on other strengths, if we are lucky.

I blogged about the sense of loss a woman feels when she confronts her aging face and mourns the loss of conventional beauty at: http://www.brendacorriganwentdowntown.com/lets-face-it/