An inspirational memoir by a chemically intolerant woman that has the potential to change the way people view fragrances and other common chemical toxins in their environments.

In this wry memoir, a Harvard-educated CPA with debilitating chemical intolerance digs deep in her family history to uncover the childhood trigger for her illness. Tackling themes of truth, loss, acceptance, and empowerment, Pookie Sekmet interweaves her personal story with timely guidance on the importance of avoiding toxic chemicals in cars, consumer products, and indoor environments; overcomes family trauma and mysterious chronic health struggles with determination and humor; builds an unconventional new life; and, finally, becomes a whistleblower within a corrupt and patriarchal corporate culture—and achieves righteous justice. Think Titus Andronicus, but with a slight woman in her mid-fifties with defiantly bad hair—wearing worn overalls and a home-sewn hemp jersey top—standing tall among the corpses.

Our society has become polarized by leaders seeking to consolidate exploitative power through the imposition of magical thinking and untruths. Through the story of her struggles and ultimate triumph, Sekmet lays bare the underlying selfishness, heedlessness, and lies of many of our political, societal, and business structures and offers a reality-based and practical path to self-protection—and even empowerment.

Pookie Sekmet grew up in the US South and went to Harvard College before becoming a computer professional and later an accountant. She has been happily married for about thirty years, and lives in a small town in Western Massachusetts. As a baby, she suffered a chemical exposure that her parents hid from her and that triggered a lifelong and undiagnosed intolerance to common chemicals. Sensitive is the story of how she solved the central mystery of why she had been ill from an early age, worked out ways of avoiding chemical reinjury, and accepted the true nature of her birth family.