At age forty-four,Alice Eve Cohen was happy for the first time in years.After a difficult divorce,she was engaged to an inspiring man,she was joyfully raising her adopted daughter,and her career was blossoming.Then she started experiencing mysterious symptoms.After months of tests,X-rays,and hormone treatments for menopause,she was diagnosed with an abdominal tumor and sent for an emergency CAT scan that revealed the cause of her symptoms.She was six months pregnant.

This was the first of many shocks in a pregnancy riddled with complications that threatened the lives of both mother and body.With no prenatal care,no insurance coverage for high-risk pregnancy,and too late for an abortion,Alice was inundated by friends and docters telling her what was ethical,what was loving,what was right.

What I Thought I knew is a page-turner filled with vivid characters and surprising humor,in which Alice faces the complexity of family relationships head-on.With the suspense of a thriller and the intimacy of a diary,Cohen describes her unexpected journey through doube,a broken medical system,and the hotly contested terrain of faith and values in today's socity.Timely and compelling,What I Thought I Knew will capture readers of memoirs such as Eat,Pray,Love;The Glass Castle;and A three Dog Life.