Home Books

Recovery

The Lost Art of Convalescence

Cover of 'Recovery'

A short, uplifting account of hope and healing by the author of ‘Adventures in Human Being’.

When it comes to illness, sometimes the end is just the beginning. Recovery and convalescence are words that exist at the periphery of our lives – until we are forced to contend with what they really mean.

Here, GP and writer Gavin Francis explores how – and why – we get better, revealing the many shapes recovery takes, its shifting history and the frequent failure of our modern lives to make adequate space for it.

Characterised by Francis’s beautiful prose and his view of medicine as “the alliance of science and kindness”, ‘Recovery’ is a book about a journey that most of us never intend to make. Along the way, he unfolds a story of hope, transformation, and the everyday miracle of healing.

Read an extract from the book

Join an event with the author

Date published
Format
Paperback
Extent
144 pages
ISBN
9781800810488

About the author

Photograph of Gavin Francis

Gavin Francis

Dr Gavin Francis has worked across four continents as a surgeon, emergency physician, medical officer with the British Antarctic Survey and latterly as a GP. He’s the author of the Sunday Times-bestselling ‘Adventures in Human Being’ and ‘Recovery’, as well as ‘Shapeshifters’ and ‘Intensive Care’. He also writes for the Guardian, The Times, the London Review of Books and Granta.