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Published: 03/09/2024
Eye-opening and incredibly poignant, this tenderly written work from the author of Dear Life, tracks the process of a heart transplant through the intertwined stories of two extraordinary children.
Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2024
From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller Dear Life and Breathtaking, now a major TV drama.
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.
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 9780349145594
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 500 g
Dimensions: 236 x 156 x 30 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
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 - Rob Delaney
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 - Christie Watson
An extraordinary story, beautifully told - Adam Kay
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 - Prospect
What a book . . . The perfect book - Chris Evans on Virgin Radio
Telling this true story with dramatic pace, medical precision and characteristic warmth, The Story of a Heart is Rachel Clarke's finest book yet - Financial Times
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 - Independent
Remarkable - Cosmopolitan
The Story of a Heart is beautifully written and utterly vital - iPaper
This is a gripping story of two remarkable families, a remarkable heart and a remarkable organ donor system, faultlessly told - BGJP
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
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