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A Father Transformed

Cover image for Beautiful Eyes

When Paul Austin and his wife Sally were anticipating their first child, they both felt excited and ready to be parents.

Paul was a medical student, and Sally was a nurse, and they were familiar with hospitals and newborns. But when their daughter Sarah was born, they quickly found out that Sarah had Trisomy 21, Down syndrome, and they both were shocked. They struggled with their own doubts and fears as well as the prejudices of others. In his new memoir Beautiful Eyes(W.W. Norton & Company/2014), Paul Austin traces the story of Sarah’s life, exploring his journey to better understand his daughter. 

Host Frank Stasio talks to Paul Austin and Sally Somers Austin about their life and family. Austin will read  from his memoir with his daughter Sarah at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham on Wednesday, November 5 at 7 p.m.

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Anita Rao is an award-winning journalist, host, creator, and executive editor of "Embodied," a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships & health.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.