Patient, by Ben Watt

[Charlie]

Patient, by Ben Watt (Penguin, 1997).

Ben Watt is the male half of Everything But the Girl, the duo formed with Tracey Thorn when the two singer-songwriters met as first year students at Hull University in 1981. After a couple of singles on the independent label, Cherry Red Records, they moved to the Warner affiliated blanco y negro, for whom they had many hits.

In June 1992, at the age of 29, Ben was admitted to hospital after he started having intense pains in his stomach.

Patient describes his experiences and memories of the next three months, as consultants tried to guess what was wrong with him. Eventually, he was diagnosed with Churg Strauss Syndrome, a condition in which the autoimmune system goes haywire, as white blood cells start attacking internal organs.

While the book has special resonance to this fellow Churg Strauss sufferer, it is written with such elegance and droll humour, it rewards simply as a piece of extraordinary writing.

Now out-of-print, it is easily found second hand via the usual websites.