Diary of a Dying Girl - by Mallory Smith

About the Book

"This work is adapted from Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life, originally published in hardcover by Spiegel & Grau, New York, in 2019 and in paperback by Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, in 2020"-- copyright page.

Book Synopsis

This collection of one girl's real, unflinching diary entries about slowly dying of a terminal illness is an unparalleled exploration of the human spirit and what it means to truly live.

Many of the feelings I write about are too difficult to share while I'm alive, so I'm keeping everything in my journal password-protected until the end.

Mallory Smith was no ordinary girl, and this is no ordinary story. At age three, Mallory was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis--a disease that attacks the internal organs and would eventually kill her.
Despite living on borrowed time, Mallory pursued her passions: volleyball; writing; the environment; her boyfriend, family, and friends. Most importantly, every day she chose to embody the mantra "live happy."
Mallory also had her struggles--everything from love and sex to living with illness and just being a human on this planet. And she chronicled every bit of it, writing thousands of diary entries before her death in her twenties.
This is the poignant, true story of a young woman who refused to be defined by chronic illness. Her light and her life are shared here in her own words to encourage everyone to live life to the fullest, as she did, even as she was dying.

Review Quotes

★ "Moving [and] heartfelt....Readers will mourn her death, empathize with her and others living with cystic fibrosis, and admire her for her courage in living life to the fullest." --Booklist, starred review

"Illuminating and heartbreaking." --Kirkus Reviews

"The writing is raw and honest, detailing things any young adult could relate to.... A gripping, authentic window into the soul of a young person." --School Library Journal

About the Author

Mallory Smith was a freelance writer and editor specializing in environmental, social justice, and healthcare-related communications. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University and worked as a senior producer at Green Grid Radio, an environmental storytelling radio show and podcast. Her radio work has been featured on KCRW, National Radio Project, and State of the Human. She died at the age of twenty-five on November 15, 2017, two months after receiving a double lung transplant.