2014 Miami Book Fair | Paul Austin

Paul Austin is an emergency-room doctor, and the author of a previous memoir, Something for the Pain. His essays have appeared in Creative Nonfiction, the Southeast Review, and the Gettysburg Review. In 1987, Paul Austin, a medical student, and his wife Sally, a nurse, were newlyweds, excited about their future together and happily anticipating the birth of their first child.

Everything changed the moment the doctor rushed their infant daughter, Sarah, from the room just after her birth. But not before her father spotted the telltale physical signs of Down syndrome.  Austin’s memoir, Beautiful Eyes: A Father Transformed (W. W. Norton & Company; $25.95), chronicles his life with his daughter as they navigate cultural assumptions and prejudices.  Along the way Austin must confront and reconcile his own limitations as a father.  In praise ofBeautiful Eyes, Ann Hood writes, “Austin uses science, history, and a father’s love and fear to trace his emotional journey . . . you will root for Austin, for Sarah, for everyone who has had to learn how to accept the path they are on.”

2014 Miami Book Fair