Syd Atlas, THE YEAR WITHOUT WORDS
A True Love Story

Rowohlt, Wunderlich - Nonfiction - Hardcover - September 2020

Five Seasons of Love. An incredible story. An unexpected story. A true story.

It all began with a great love. Syd first meets Theo at a café in Berlin. He is a filmmaker, and he’s smart and charismatic. Syd knows immediately this is the kind of love you only find once in your life. They quickly move in together and have a baby. Their lives are filled with deep joy as they ride the carousel of life together.

But then Theo receives a devastating diagnosis: ALS, the rare disease from which Stephen Hawking also suffered. Day after day, Syd fights for the man she’d fallen in love with, determined to preserve what is left of their happiness. Until one day, she makes an extraordinary discovery that changes everything.

“I had heard of split seconds that change your life. Though, things don’t split that often in life, a banana split, some atoms split, couples split, and split seconds where nothing will ever be the same again. Well, this was the split second where my life split open. Two people fall in love, get married, have a child, but then something happens that almost destroys her entire life. This is a true story - my story.” - Syd Atlas