Need help finding this book, please!

[Eriberri]

For years now I've been searching for the title/author of a book I read as a teenager, to no avail. I hope someone can help me out here~

I think the book was probably published sometime before 1990 - possibly as early as the late 70's. From what I can remember the cover of the copy I had back then was white with a sort of art-nouveau/deco flower on the front.

What I remember of the story was that it was a romance between a doctor and his female patient (who had breast cancer). She was married, although her husband and her were no longer close or intimate, and she had a grown daughter. She spent a lot of time in the hospital due to the seriousness of her cancer, with her daughter sometimes coming to visit.

The cancer forced her to have one breast removed early on, and much later when it continued to spread, the other as well. Despite this and her fear of not being 'womanly' anymore, the doctor makes her feel loved, comforted and very desirable.

The romance took some time to develop as they were drawn to one another but were aware of each others' positions/status being a major hurdle; despite this they grow incredibly close and fall deeply in love, eventually running away together towards the end of the book.

This 'running away' consists of going for a holiday on some lovely sunny island where they made love (I think it's the only sex scene in the book, from what I recall) and where it turns out the doctor had been shielding her for some time from the fact that the cancer had continued to spread despite the operations, thus she had only a week or so to live (and wanted her last moments to be special ones). In the end she dies in his arms on the beach (it's pretty heartbreaking to read too, despite knowing that it's coming).

It was such a beautiful and bittersweet story, touching and making me cry in a way that few books have over the years.

I really hope that someone can help me out!

[Elaine]

Eriberri wrote: "For years now I've been searching for the title/author of a book I read as a teenager, to no avail. I hope someone can help me out here~

I think the book was probably published sometime before 199..."

Hi. I've searched Google a million different ways and even looked for terminal cancer novels to see if anything fits. Nothing so far, but I've found this list - http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/t.... It might spark something? Maybe with a cover or a name.

I hope you find it. I hate never finding a great story.