****

Diagnosed with bowel cancer at the age of 39, Dr Philippa Kaye knew her life would be changed. Charting her progress from diagnosis to recovery, this book takes the lid off a dreadful disease and its implications for the person concerned, their families and friends.

In many ways, this is a fascinating and very readable book – it not only allows us to see a side to bowel cancer that most of us know nothing about, but the author shares the knowledge gained from being on both sides of the fence. Written as a diary, Philippa Kaye leaves nothing out, writing about all those things we take for granted but that are thrown to the wind because of a disease. For anyone facing surgery or who knows someone with cancer, this book will be an enormous help, giving reassurance and practical advice without the jargon that can put up fences between doctors and patients.

Having said that, I’m amazed the author’s editor didn’t tell her about the exclamation marks – peppering the manuscript in the way a 10-year-old might, they make her writing sound amateurish, which it really isn’t. I know I’m probably in the minority here, but the feeling that the author is shouting out her sentences is distracting and irritating. A bit of sensible editing would have made this a much better book.

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