Description

A profound and provocative journey through the human body

‘Bold, humane yet unsettling’ GUARDIAN

‘Gripping and lyrical’ TELEGRAPH

For Gabriel Weston, there was always something missing from the anatomy she was taught at medical school. As she became a surgeon, a mother, and ultimately a patient herself, she found herself grappling with the gap between the body she understood as a doctor, and the reality of living in one.

In this captivating exploration of our bodily organs, a fuller and more human picture of our bodies emerges: more fragile, frightening and miraculous than we could have imagined.

‘Exceptional, beautiful and absolutely absorbing . . . ALIVE is essential reading if you own a body’ CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN

Publisher Review

An exceptional, beautiful and absolutely absorbing book. Gabriel Weston is one of the best writers around, and when it comes to medicine and anatomy she redefines the genre. ALIVE is a tour of human life and bodies, but she also brings her own body, in the context of her own life, into an absolutely compelling narrative; sex, pregnancy, asylum seekers, breast implants and hearts – especially the author’s own heart, in every sense. It is essential reading if you own a body and should be mandatory for all those who study them. — Chris van Tulleken, author of ULTRA PROCESSED PEOPLE A book of wonder and appreciation of our fragile bodies — Sarah Moss, author of GHOST WALL Beguiling and sophisticated — Jed Mercurio * writer of Bodyguard (TV series) * As Gabriel Weston demonstrates in this remarkable book, each organ of our body is a miracle of evolutionary imagination, performing tasks that are outlandishly creative and brilliant. An unusually compelling and illuminating book. — Misha Glenny, author of * McMafia: Seriously Organised Crime *