by Sophie Ward
First published 2019
Sophie Ward's life derails when a mysterious illness consumes her. After years of debilitating symptoms that doctors repeatedly dismiss, she discovers she has chronic Lyme disease—a diagnosis that transforms everything she understands about her health, identity, and career. Battling medical skepticism and her own body's betrayal, Ward confronts a complex medical system that systematically undermines patient experiences, particularly for women. Her investigation becomes intensely personal: tracking her illness's origins, challenging medical orthodoxies, and reconstructing her sense of self against a backdrop of institutional doubt. More than a medical memoir, this is a raw confrontation with the boundaries between physical suffering and institutional gaslighting.
Genres: medical, social-issues, non-fiction, biography-memoir, health, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: medical-mystery, personal-journey
250 pages · Paperback · Independently published
Content warnings: gaslighting, medical-trauma