From Hanif Kureishi author of The Buddha of Suburbia a memoir about the accident that left
him paralysed. 'Moving funny remarkable' Richard Eyre ___________________ '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.
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.
