A Short History of Falling

Everything I Observed About Love Whilst Dying

Joe Hammond

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Harper Collins
06 September 2019

Biography; Memoirs; Coping with illness

A Short History of Falling - like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and When Breath Becomes Air - is a searingly beautiful, profound and unforgettable memoir that finds light and even humour in the darkest of places. We keep an old shoebox, Gill and I, nestled in a drawer in our room. It's filled with thirty-three birthday cards for our two young sons: one for every year I'll miss until they're twenty-one. I wrote them because, since the end of 2017, I've been living with - and dying from - motor neurone disease.

This book is about the process of saying goodbye. To my body, as I journey from unexpected clumsiness to a wheelchair that resembles a spacecraft, with rods and pads and dials and bleeps. To this world, as I play less of a part in it and find myself floating off into unlighted territory. To Gill, my wife. To Tom and Jimmy.

A Short History of Falling is about the sadness (and the anger, and the fear), but it's about what's beautiful too. It's about love and fatherhood, about the precious experience of observing my last moments with this body, surrounded by the people who matter most. It's about what it feels like to confront the fact that my family will persist through time with only a memory of me. In many ways, it has been the most amazing time of my life.

By: Joe Hammond
Imprint: Harper Collins
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 204mm, Width: 135mm, Spine: 26mm
Weight: 320g
ISBN: 9780008339906
ISBN 10: 0008339902
Pages: 176
Publication Date: 06 September 2019
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Joe Hammond is writer and playwright. He took part in the Royal Court Studio Writers' Group in 2012, having previously been mentored by the theatre and BBC. His debut London production 'Where the Mangrove Grows' played at Theatre503 in 2012 and was later published by Bloomsbury. He lives in Hampshire with his wife and two sons.

Reviews for A Short History of Falling: Everything I Observed About Love Whilst Dying

`I read A Short History of Falling in a day. It's surprising and uncommon and I don't think I'll ever forget it' Sunjeev Sahota, author of The Year of the Runaways.