In her memoir Smile: The Story of a Face (Simon & Schuster), Sarah Ruhl tells the story of her ten-year struggle with Bell’s Palsy. Ruhl was (and is) a successful playwright when she and her husband discover they are having twins. That news, coupled with the fact they already have a daughter, leads Ruhl to worry she will struggle to write again because of the time and energy needed to balance a growing family and the high-stakes professional demands and drama accompanying her profession. That concern becomes even more complicated when she is diagnosed with cholestasis of the liver, where bile seeps into the bloodstream causing itchiness, but also possibly leading to the death of the children.