SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024
BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE SPECTATOR, NEW STATESMAN, AND NEW SCIENTIST
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER DEAR LIFE AND BREATHTAKING, A MAJOR TV DRAMA
‘What a book . . . The perfect book’ Chris Evans on Virgin Radio
‘Profoundly moving and at the same time wildly inspiring’ Rob Delaney
‘Rachel Clarke’s finest book yet’ Financial Times
‘Remarkable’ Cosmopolitan
‘The best narrative non-fiction I’ve read in years. Rachel Clarke has written a profound piece of investigative journalism and wrapped it up in poetry’ Christie Watson
‘This is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL and riveting book: written with such humanity, empathy and knowledge, such tact and drama and eloquence. Vital reading, lifelong revelation‘ Laura Cumming
The first of our organs to form, the last to die, the heart is both a simple pump and the symbol of all that makes us human: as long as it continues to beat, we hope.
One summer day, nine-year-old Keira suffered catastrophic injuries in a car accident. Though her brain and the rest of her body began to shut down, her heart continued to beat. In an act of extraordinary generosity, Keira’s parents and siblings agreed that she would have wanted to be an organ donor. Meanwhile nine-year-old Max had been hospitalised for nearly a year with a virus that was causing his young heart to fail. When Max’s parents received the call they had been hoping for, they knew it came at a terrible cost to another family.
This is the unforgettable story of how one family’s grief transformed into a lifesaving gift. With tremendous compassion and clarity, Dr Rachel Clarke relates the urgent journey of Keira’s heart and explores the history of the remarkable medical innovations that made it possible, stretching back over a century and involving the knowledge and dedication not just of surgeons but of countless physicians, immunologists, nurses and scientists.
The Story of a Heart is a testament to compassion for the dying, the many ways we honour our loved ones, and the tenacity of love.
BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE SPECTATOR, NEW STATESMAN, AND NEW SCIENTIST
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER DEAR LIFE AND BREATHTAKING, A MAJOR TV DRAMA
‘What a book . . . The perfect book’ Chris Evans on Virgin Radio
‘Profoundly moving and at the same time wildly inspiring’ Rob Delaney
‘Rachel Clarke’s finest book yet’ Financial Times
‘Remarkable’ Cosmopolitan
‘The best narrative non-fiction I’ve read in years. Rachel Clarke has written a profound piece of investigative journalism and wrapped it up in poetry’ Christie Watson
‘This is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL and riveting book: written with such humanity, empathy and knowledge, such tact and drama and eloquence. Vital reading, lifelong revelation‘ Laura Cumming
The first of our organs to form, the last to die, the heart is both a simple pump and the symbol of all that makes us human: as long as it continues to beat, we hope.
One summer day, nine-year-old Keira suffered catastrophic injuries in a car accident. Though her brain and the rest of her body began to shut down, her heart continued to beat. In an act of extraordinary generosity, Keira’s parents and siblings agreed that she would have wanted to be an organ donor. Meanwhile nine-year-old Max had been hospitalised for nearly a year with a virus that was causing his young heart to fail. When Max’s parents received the call they had been hoping for, they knew it came at a terrible cost to another family.
This is the unforgettable story of how one family’s grief transformed into a lifesaving gift. With tremendous compassion and clarity, Dr Rachel Clarke relates the urgent journey of Keira’s heart and explores the history of the remarkable medical innovations that made it possible, stretching back over a century and involving the knowledge and dedication not just of surgeons but of countless physicians, immunologists, nurses and scientists.
The Story of a Heart is a testament to compassion for the dying, the many ways we honour our loved ones, and the tenacity of love.
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Reviews
Remarkable
Clarke brilliantly interweaves the tragic story that links the two children with that of the medical staff who looked after Keira in her final hours and those who helped her heart to give Max new life. It is obviously an incredibly emotional piece, but Clarke's ability to balance the children's stories with the medical ones offers some hope in a dark place
This emotional story explores how one bereaved family helped save the life of another child and looks at the medical advances over the years that made it all possible... 5 stars
The extraordinary journey of a young girl's heart to a young boy's body is told in an accessible, humane way... There are moments, within this intricate tapestry, where Clarke's evocative, empathetic writing makes you catch your breath
Clarke could not have rendered this story more tenderly... this is humane writing
Rachel Clarke tells the selfless story of the extended and extraordinary life of this heart, and how it changed organ donation for ever. This unconventional narrative biography fizzes with respectful, indefatigable and eloquent respect for life. Unforgettable
The Story of a Heart is the best narrative non-fiction I've read in years. Rachel Clarke has written a profound piece of investigative journalism and wrapped it up in poetry. A story of death - and life, and how one incredible family gifted a miracle to another
Telling this true story with dramatic pace, medical precision and characteristic warmth, The Story of a Heart is Rachel Clarke's finest book yet
This is a gripping story of two remarkable families, a remarkable heart and a remarkable organ donor system, faultlessly told
Rachel Clarke [is] a physician who is also an uncommonly good writer... The Story of a Heart is never mawkish. It is instead a clear-eyed act of investigative journalism; Clarke knows her subject and does the legwork too
An extraordinary story, beautifully told
Clarke, the author of the superb Dear Life and the coruscating Covid expose Breathtaking, is the right person to tell the extraordinary story of how one family's grief was transformed into a lifesaving act of generosity. The Story of a Heart is tender and inspiring and displays all Clarke's usual compassion for the dead and why they deserve to be honoured
A moving account
What a book . . . The perfect book
The Story of a Heart is beautifully written and utterly vital
Rachel Clarke takes us deep into the drama, tragedy and triumph behind the modern miracle of a heart transplant. This is a unique and profoundly moving story of life and death
As tense and nerve-racking as any thriller
The Story of a Heart makes for a compelling read, peppered with Clarke's often startlingly poetic descriptions and frequent detours into the fascinating history of transplantation
Profoundly moving and at the same time wildly inspiring. A beautiful, humane book... Even hearing a sliver of this story would make you hunger to learn every possible detail, and rare is the writer who could pull it together so beautifully
This is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL and riveting book: written with such humanity, empathy and knowledge, such tact and drama and eloquence. Vital reading, lifelong revelation