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A History of the Present Illness

Stories

Louise Aronson author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:11th Apr '13

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A History of the Present Illness cover

LONGLISTED FOR THE FRANK O'CONNOR INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY AWARD 2013. Funny, honest and compassionate linked stories providing a portrait of health and humanity like nothing we have read before.

A busy doctor juggles an errant teenage daughter and a seriously ill father. An elderly immigrant sacrifices his demented wife's well-being to satisfy his son's authority. A trainee becomes delirious with lack of sleep but must learn how to act, and not react, in the face of suffering. A psychiatrist who advocates for the underserved may herself be crazy. Together these deeply humane linked stories - at once funny and honest, incisive and compassionate - explore the impact of illness on real people's lives and offer a portrait of health and medicine like nothing we have read before. Set in hospitals, offices, nursing homes, prisons, family apartments and out and about in the city, A History of the Present Illness creates a world pulsating with life and introduces a striking new literary voice.

The human insight medicine brings can form masters of the short story. Louise Aronson proves it again ... These are tales about people, as insightful as Lorrie Moore or Alice Munro * Independent *
A less cute, more truthful version of Grey’s Anatomy * Kirkus *
Some of the most startling and memorable stories I’ve ever read … A fascinating study of our fragile human condition, both physical and emotional. Here is a writer — and a doctor — whose empathy for her people, her characters, springs forth on every page * Peter Orner, author of Love and Shame and Love *
I devoured the stories … each one is written with a beautifully precise balance of clarity and insight. She combines a doctor’s eye with a writer’s heart * Elizabeth Day, author of Scissors, Paper, Stone *

ISBN: 9781408832127

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 414g

288 pages