A Still Life: A Memoir by Josie George. No Advance Reader Copy included. No affiliate links used. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Josie George has lived with a chronic illness for most of her life.
By the age of eight she was already a mystery to the many doctors she saw because no-one knew exactly what was wrong with her. In the years since, her diagnosis has changed multiple times. Doctors still cannot give her a definitive diagnosis.
Along the way she has been belittled, dismissed and accused of exaggerating or outright lying. Experiences that will be depressingly familiar to anyone — particularly women — who has struggled to have their chronic pain or other chronic illness diagnosed and treated appropriately.
A Still Life is divided into four parts; the winter, spring, summer, and autumn of 2018. Within each section we are also brought back to the "then" of George's childhood, how her illness impacted her time in school, the abusive relationship she experienced in her early teens, how her illness affected her ability to work, the beginning and ending of her marriage, the birth of her son, and her decision to use a mobility scooter to ensure her life is as active as it can be.
The present day sections focus on George's day-to-day life with her son, how she observes the world around her and her growing relationship with Fraser, who lives in Denmark.
It is in describing the small moments of her daily life that George's eye for detail shines through. She does not shy away from the realities of living with a chronic illness, especially when raising a child, but it is also through this lens that she challenges us to stop and take stock of our own lives. In being forced to slow down she has learned to make the most of the little things. Something that will probably resonate with a lot more people than it would have pre-pandemic.
George's writing is intimate, precise and full on incisive observations about modern life.
It may only be April, but I can confidently say that A Still Life will feature in my favourite books of 2021 round-up in December.
A Still Life: A Memoir by Josie George is published by Bloomsbury and is available in hardback, ebook and audiobook format