A Still Life: A Memoir

(Paperback)

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE BARBELLION PRIZE 2021 'A manifesto for recalibrating' DAILY MAIL 'I cant think of many books where the reader feels so passionately on the side of the narrator' GUARDIAN 'A profound redefinition of the very idea of vitality' FINANCIAL TIMES Josie George lives in a tiny terraced house in the urban West Midlands with her son. Since her early childhood, she has lived with the fluctuating and confusing challenge of disabling chronic illness. But Josies world is surprising, intricate, dynamic. She has learned what to look for: the routines of her friends at the community centre; the neighbourhood birds in flight; the slow changes in the morning light, in her small garden, in her growing son, in herself. In January 2018, Josie sets out to tell the story of her still life, over the course of a year. As the seasons shift, and the tides of her body draw in and out, Josie begins to unfurl her history. And against a world which values progress and productivity above all else, Josie sets out a quietly radical alternative: to value and treasure life for life itself, with all its great and small miracles. 'Full of kindness, A Still Life will make you a better person' CLARE MACKINTOSH 'A Still Life is joy-lit: vivid, lovestruck, hopeful and wise' MELISSA HARRISON 'Josie George is the kind of writer I strive to be ... A tough, tender, beautiful book about existing in a body in the world' ELLA RISBRIDGER 'Could not be more timely ... An immensely talented writer' LINDA GRANT

Reviews

Inspiring ... How fragile we are, she notes, how fleeting our joys ... Describes a way of living now familiar to many of us -- TRACEY THORNE * New Statesman *
A moving account of living with a chronic illness * Independent *
In all honesty, I've never come across a new writer with more to offer the world -- MELISSA HARRISON
A profound redefinition of the very idea of vitality * Financial Times *
Audacious, exuberant ... I cant think of many books where the reader feels so passionately on the side of the narrator * Guardian *
A Still Life is that rarest of things: a memoir that reads like a novel. In a world where we are continually made to think bigger is better, Josie reminds us of the joy to be found from a small, quiet life. Full of kindness, A Still Life will make you a better person -- CLARE MACKINTOSH
This book would always have found a loyal readership its vivid prose and meticulous, kindly candour ensure it. But coming now, at a time when record numbers have been struggling with their own ill-health and when many more have been forced to slow down, it feels like a manifesto for recalibrating * Daily Mail *
Could not be more timely ... Josie is an immensely talented writer and thinker who sees a world in a grain of sand and we're all made richer for it ... I hope its a bestseller -- LINDA GRANT
Josie George is the kind of writer I strive to be: meticulous and exacting in her documenting of joy and pain, and how those are the same thing. George sees things other people miss, and that's the point: it's about noticing, about seeing, about learning to see. A tough, tender, beautiful book about existing in a body in the world. I loved it -- ELLA RISBRIDGER
This memoir feels like the book we all need right now * Good Housekeeping *
An exquisitely pitched memoir of disability and living with chronic pain, but also of finding joy and wonder * Bookseller, Editor's Choice *

Author Bio

Josie George is a writer and visual artist. She lives with her son in the West Midlands. A Still Life was written mostly from bed and is her first book. She is currently working on a novel alongside exploring how drawing, painting and photography might help her to stay awake to life as it really is. josiegeorge.co.uk bimblings.co.uk @porridgebrain