A wonderful book that encapsulated life with chronic illness so well. Aitken writes of her experience of growing up and living with undiagnosed health issues and then making sense of things after getting a name and an explanation for symptoms which have impacted her life hugely. She reflects on how even with this things can remain uncertain and unclear and all that learning to live in a body that doesn’t navigate the world as easily as healthy ones entails.

This was quite an emotional read for me as I share multiple of the authors diagnosis, which I don’t know before reading. I found so many parallels within these pages to my own life, and Aitken managed to put onto the page with great clarity her experience that there was something comforting in this. Definitely a book I will read again.

A fascinating look at life with chronic illness, this does much to debunk the prevalent idea that you can somehow 'think yourself well'. It particularly focuses on the extremely popular idea of embracing nature as a cure for what ails you. Atkin, who has Ehler's Danloss Syndrome, which is a chronic genetic disorder, alongside haemochromotosis, looks at her own long and brutal wait for diagnosis and a treatment plan in relation to the themes of wellness. She is particularly good on the frustrations of being disbelieved, dismissed and belittled by a health service which has a historically terrible track record of listening to women at the best of times. I loved her excursions into the natural world and what it can and can't do for you. Her connection to place is particularly affecting.

Immersive, defiant, meditative, majestic, enlightening. I’m not sure there are enough superlatives to do this book justice. Read it simply to be submerged in the natural wonders of the Lakes, to take a gloriously intimate tour of its now domesticated wilderness. Or read it like me, to also find kinship, hope and empathy, if you, or a loved one have a bodily ecosystem burdened by chronic illness, that continually strays from equilibrium, that has been subjected to medical gaslighting and near endless diagnostic circles of hope/relief/euphoria followed by the disappointment of another dead end. Too many of us will identify with what Polly has been through, and will continue to go through, will see this as their story, even though the details differs. But I doubt any of us could tell it as eloquently as this.

This is a beautifully written memoir about living with chronic illness. It contains realism and hope.

A moving testimony of being ignored, disbelieved, and maltreated by medical professionals and the healthcare system as a whole.

How Covid-19 brought a parallel through the lockdowns about what living with chronic illness is like to non-sufferers. Yet also a new vulnerability to the chronically ill and disabled.

It speaks of the value of nature, slowness and appreciation of the beauty of the natural world whilst refuting that nature could actually be a cure.

Atkin gives searingly on point descriptions of learning what her new life is, pacing even the smallest of activities and letting go of her hopes and dreams for what she thought life was going to be.

I did feel that this book came from the perspective of privilege and although this was mentioned briefly it did not recognise that we are not all able to live the idyllic Lake District life that Atkin does - and yet still face chronic illness and disability in cities, urban environments, council flats, etc.

But overall this memoir was stunningly written, movingly real and an important voice in the chronic/disabled conversation.

This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.