One Body

“A deep and soulful meditation on what it means to be a woman … powerful.” Sunday Times

“An often shocking reminder of the insidious sexism at large … lucid and warm.” Times Literary Supplement

‘It packs the wallop of a wrecking ball but reads as easily as a page-turner.’ The List

By the time she reached her fifties, Catherine Simpson and her body had gone through a lot together – from period pain, an abortion and early menopause to shaming and harassment. But there had been success, joy, love and laughter too: far more freedoms than her mother had, a fulfilling family life and career, and the promise of more gains for her daughters. So when a cancer diagnosis upends her life, Catherine is forced to reflect on her body, then and now. From having been brought up on a farm where vets were more common than doctors, and where illness was ‘a nuisance’, she finds herself faced with the nuisance of a lifetime.

One Body is the candid, searing and often darkly funny story of how Catherine navigates her treatment and takes stock of the emotions and reflections it provokes, until her cancer is in remission. And how she comes to appreciate the skin she is in – to be grateful for her body and all that it does and is.

From the author of When I Had a Little Sister:

‘A poignant memoir…seeks to find a way to address the unspoken. Simpson is a precise and skilled writer. This memoir…is a considerable achievement.’ Cathy Rentzenbrink, The Times

‘Riveting and bleakly funny…heartrending… compassionate and beadily observed.’ Observer

‘A superb memoir.’ Sunday Times

‘I found this book gripping and heart-wrenching. It sticks with me still.’ Mail on Sunday