I cannot write this review without feeling emotional. For a long time, Sophie Kinsella has been one of my favourite writers, and her books saw me through my twenties and thirties with plenty of humour and good times. So, I feel a special affinity with Sophie Kinsella. When I learned about her tumour through her social media accounts, I was devastated for her. When she announced her latest book, I wasn’t expecting that I would be reading her most intimate autobiographical journey.
The books begins with Before, with Eve being a successful novelist who attends red carpet events and has a loving family. Everything is going so well for her. Then we get to After. Eve wakes up from a hospital bed, with no recollection of how she got here. She eventually learns she had stage 4 glioblastoma and underwent 8 hours of brain surgery to remove it.
Her post-recovery sees her dealing with short-term memory loss, as she learns to walk and talk again. The zimmerframe, the physiotherapy, the cognition therapy, the chemo, Eve deals with all of this in an optimistic and witty manner. There are moments where Eve shows her raw and vulnerable side, especially when thinking about her children.
I just want to write that I am extremely grateful that Sophie decided to write this book, not just as a therapy for her, but to educate her readers what stage 4 glioblastoma is and what the post-recovery looks like. From start to finish, I wanted to hold Eve/Sophie’s hand as she navigated her post-recovery journey, but at the same time didn’t want to nanny her because I know she has got this. This book is heartbreaking but also uplifting in form of her supportive family and her own private strength.
The author’s notes at the end of the book is incredibly moving and it felt so good to hear Sophie’s own voice. I wish her the best of health and to thank her for sharing this journey with us.