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Episode details

Radio 4,25 Aug 2017,15 mins

Available for 9 days

Maggie O'Farrell describes the challenges she and her family face trying to give her daughter as normal life a life as possible. Startling memoir, in which the bestselling author recounts her life through a series of near-death experiences. Concluded by Hattie Morahan. The book started out as a private project, a way for O'Farrell to help her young daughter who suffers from a serious immunology disorder, including severe eczema and allergies that can cause anaphylactic shock: "I've asked myself, when she has been very ill, how do you carry on when death is a daily possibility?" Abridged and produced by Kirsteen Cameron First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2017.

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