Noble Dream

Nobody can tell Christina Noble, "You don't know how it feels." By the time she reached 30, the Dubliner had survived tuberculosis, hunger, homelessness, beatings, molestation by relatives, institutionalization and a gang rape that produced a son named Thomas, taken from her when he was three months old. Her survival, she says, is a testimony to resilience — not only hers, but that of every human being. "We have an incredible capacity to get through an awful lot," says Noble, now 58, crediting a failed suicide attempt, therapy and her "will to fight back" with her turnaround....