The following review was contributed by: Carolyn Howard Johnson award-winning author of This is the Place, Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to do What Your Publisher Won’t

Here is a man--this Sir Rupert A. L. Perrin, MD--with a remarkable story to tell. In Kristin J. Johnson, he has found a partner with the passion and skill to help him tell it with the fervor it deserves.

Though not a traditionally-constructed memoir, this pair of talented people has built memories around art, the abiding force in Perrin’s life. In a near-Faulknerian fashion, the two have woven memories together the way a man who has lived life to its fullest might do if he were sitting around a table with young friends. The clinking crystal reminds him of the good times; the silver warmed by a patina reminds him of the heartaches.

Each chapter of Ordinary Miracles begins with a memory prompted by a painting, rich in imagery, and, although, there is a linear quality to Perrin’s story--youth through his present day retirement—he doesn’t lose the quality of reminiscing. He moves from event to event, city to city, time to time, and--yes, lesson to lesson--like a stream rushing through a canyon with so many eddies and currents to navigate, a myriad of sound and beauty to make.

With so many biographies available today, it may feel foolish to choose one by a person who, though titled, is relatively unknown in many circles. Please don’t be fooled. That is part of this book’s charm. Here we have a man whose life’s work has been instrumental in the quest for a cure for AIDS, whose roots in Jamaica have permeated many parts of the world, who has experienced celebrity--of his own and of those whose elbows he has rubbed. This alone is a kind of inspiration. How full our lives can be, how full they can seem to us, if we will only take a moment to look and be grateful.