‘Caroline Clark summons us, boldly and beautifully, to eavesdrop on a consultation and a life – and in doing this she illuminates the gap, both in understanding and language, between a medical history and the actual stuff of a person.’ – Sam Guglani, consultant oncologist and author of Histories

‘It’s a conversation no-one wants to have: an oncologist explains a new cancer diagnosis, and begins a dialogue over treatment options. From the cool, brisk language of the clinic Caroline Clark has distilled the most extraordinary poetic reflections, creating book of great value for clinicians and patients alike – as well as anyone interested in the language of caring, and how we respond to life-threatening illness.’ – Gavin Francis, author of Recovery

‘What an oncologist can tell you about the journey will never begin to encompass the physical and mental challenges that lie ahead. For each individual the path is unique. But how to make sense of it all? Caroline Clark’s original, honest work is beautiful, heartbreaking and important.’ – Joseph Schreiber, roughghosts

‘Occasionally [the author’s notes] directly address the crisis, as when Clark records the words of a tactless plastic surgeon who assesses the condition of her breasts. More often, they flit back and forth between the past and the future (sometimes touching the future too), alighting on a variety of subjects: motherhood, childhood, Catholicism, her compulsive hair-pulling, the need to make money and the need to write … As Clark puts it: “everyone’s experience is their very own to unravel in their own sweet time”.’ – Jonathan Buckley, Times Literary Supplement

Caroline Clark lives in Lewes, Sussex, and works as a Russian translator and community interpreter. She has published a poetry collection, Saying Yes in Russian (Agenda Editions), and Sovetica (CB editions), a book of poem-stories accompanying photographs taken by her Russian husband in his home town of Zhukovsky in the 1980s.