&#8220;What happens when a shoe-crazy, lipstick-obsessed, pasta-slurping, fashion-fanatic, madly-in-love, about-to-get married, big-city-girl cartoonist with a fabulous life finds . . . a lump in her breast?&#8221; <br><br>That&#8217;s the question that sets this funny, powerful and poignant graphic memoir in motion. In vivid colour and with a taboo-breaking sense of humour, Marisa Marchetto tells the story of her 11-month, ultimately triumphant bout with breast cancer &#8211; from diagnosis to cure, and every challenging step in between.<br><br>But <b>Cancer Vixen</b> is about more than surviving an illness. It is a portrait of one woman&#8217;s supercharged life in Manhattan, and a wonderful love story. Marisa, self-described &#8220;terminal bachelorette&#8221; meets her Prince Charming in Silvano, owner of the chic downtown trattoria Da Silvano. A month before their wedding, she receives her diagnosis. She wonders: How will he react to this news? How will my world change? Will I even survive? And . . . what about my hair?<br><br>From raucous <i>New Yorker</i> staff lunches and the star-studded crowd at Silvano&#8217;s restaurant, to the rainbow pumps Marisa wears to chemotherapy, <b>Cancer Vixen</b> is a total original. Her wit and courage are an inspiration &#8211; she&#8217;s a cancer vixen, not its victim: &#8220;Cancer,&#8221; she says, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to kick your butt! And I&#8217;m going to do it in killer four-inch heels!&#8221;<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>