'Moving funny remarkable' Richard Eyre From Hanif Kureishi author of The Buddha of
Suburbia a memoir about the accident that left him paralysed 'A few days ago a bomb went
off in my life but this bomb has also shattered the lives of those around me. My partner my
children my friends.' On Boxing Day 2022 in Rome Hanif Kureishi had a fall. When he came
to in a pool of blood he was horrified to realise he had lost the use of his limbs. He could
no longer walk write or wash himself. He could do nothing without the help of others and
required constant care in a hospital. So began an odyssey of a year through the medical systems
of Rome and Italy with the hope of somehow being able to return home to his house in London.
While confined to a series of hospital wards he felt compelled to write but being unable to
type or to hold a pen he began to dictate to family members the words which formed in his
head. The result was an extraordinary series of dispatches from his hospital bed - a diary of a
life in pieces recorded with rare honesty clarity and courage. As Hanif wrote early on: 'A
few days ago a bomb went off in my life but this bomb has also shattered the lives of those
around me. My partner my children my friends.' This book takes these hospital dispatches -
edited expanded and meticulously interwoven with new writing - and charts both a shattering
and a reassembling: a new life born of pain and loss but animated by new feelings - of
gratitude humility and love.
