Upcoming events
Chipping Campden Lit Fest
'Rachel Clarke's finest book yet' Financial Times; A September 2024 BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and a Guardian best science and nature book of 2024
Michael Rosenthal chairs a discussion on our health service with Rachel Clarke and Iona Heath. As a hopeful medical student Iona read author and art critic John Berger's A Fortunate Man, corresponded with Berger for 20 years, and is convinced that reading Berger made her a better General Practitioner. Rachel's latest, profoundly moving, best selling work is the story of the urgent journey of the heart of nine-year-old Keira, victim of a fatal car accident; the history of the remarkable medical innovations that made possible the transplant of Keira’s heart to nine-year-old Max; and the knowledge and dedication not just of surgeons but of countless physicians, immunologists, nurses and scientists.
‘A Fortunate Man is a masterpiece of witness; a three way mediation on humanity, society and the value of healing’ Dr Gavin Francis
Reviews for The Story of a Heart:
“beautifully written and utterly vital” INews
“told in an accessible, humane way” Guardian
Michael Rosenthal, son of a doctor, is Emeritus professor of the history of art at the University of Warwick. He is author of books on Constable and Gainsborough and currently working on the art of early settler Australia.
Rachel Clarke is a physician, specialising in end of life care at Katharine House Hospice, Oxford. She is the author of the best selling memoir Dear Life and Breathtaking, an account of working inside the NHS during the UK's first wave of COVID-19, a work that formed the basis of a TV series of the same name and best selling memoir Dear Life.
Iona Heath is a retired inner city general practitioner (1975 –2010) and past president of UK Royal College of General Practitioners (2009 – 2012)
Blackwells Oxford: Dogs and Hearts with Mark Haddon
Rachel Clarke & Mark Haddon in conversation about their latest books.
The Story of a Heart
The first of our organs to form, the last to die, the heart is both a simple pump and the symbol of all that makes us human: as long as it continues to beat, we hope.
One summer day, nine-year-old Keira suffered catastrophic injuries in a car accident. Though her brain and the rest of her body began to shut down, her heart continued to beat. In an act of extraordinary generosity, Keira's parents and siblings agreed that she would have wanted to be an organ donor. Meanwhile nine-year-old Max had been hospitalised for nearly a year with a virus that was causing his young heart to fail. When Max's parents received the call they had been hoping for, they knew it came at a terrible cost to another family.
This is the unforgettable story of how one family's grief transformed into a lifesaving gift. With tremendous compassion and clarity, Dr Rachel Clarke relates the urgent journey of Keira's heart and explores the history of the remarkable medical innovations that made it possible, stretching back over a century and involving the knowledge and dedication not just of surgeons but of countless physicians, immunologists, nurses and scientists.
Rachel Clarke
Rachel Clarke is a British writer and physician, specialising in palliative and end of life care and working in a large NHS hospital. She is the author of Breathtaking, an account of working inside the NHS during the UK's first wave of COVID-19, a work that formed the basis of a TV series of the same name.
Dogs and Monsters
The bestselling author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time weaves ancient fables into fresh, unexpected forms and forges new unforgettable legends.
The myth of the Minotaur in his labyrinth is turned into a wrenching parable of maternal love - and of the monstrosities of patriarchy.
The lover of a goddess, Tithonus, is gifted eternal life but without eternal youth.
Actaeon, changed into a stag after glimpsing the naked Diana and torn to pieces by his hunting dogs, becomes a visceral metaphor about how humans use and misuse animals.
From genetic engineering to the eternal complications of family, Haddon showcases how we are subject to the same elemental forces that obsessed the Greeks, as he reimagines stories from Laika the Soviet space dog on her fateful orbit to St Anthony wrestling with loneliness in the desert.
Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon is an English novelist, best known for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He won the Whitbread Award, the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award, the Guardian Prize, and a Commonwealth Writers' Prize for his work.
Wells Lit Fest
When Keira was nine, she suffered catastrophic injuries in a car accident. Her brain and body began to shut down, but her heart continued to beat. Nine-year-old Max, meanwhile, had been hospitalised with a virus that was causing his young heart to fail.
This is the unforgettable story of how one family’s grief transformed into a lifesaving gift for another. It describes the urgent journey of Keira’s heart and explores the history of medical innovations that made it possible, stretching back over a century and involving the skill and dedication of countless physicians, immunologists, nurses and scientists. In a world where the subject is often taboo, Rachel Clarke shares her unique understanding of end-of-life care and her compassion for the dying. She reminds us of the many ways we can honour our loved ones; and of the tenacity of love.
Rachel Clarke is a writer and physician, specialising in end of life care. She should be ‘required reading’ for all of us.
Book here.
Good Grief Weston Festival
Good Grief Weston – An evening with Dr Rachel Clarke
Suitable for all ages from 12 years +
Join Dr Rachel Clarke as she discusses her extraordinary latest book and wider works, with Professor Lucy Selman, from the University of Bristol. Questions are welcomed from the audience.
Rachel Clarke is an English doctor specialising in palliative care for the National Health Service. She’s also an author, journalist and activist. Formerly a current affairs journalist, Rachel retrained to work as a doctor in 2009 and firmly believes that there is a good way to approach end of life care. Rachel has written several bestselling books including Dear Life: A Doctor’s Story of Love, Loss & Consolation and Breathtaking: The UK’s Human Story of Covid.
Reviewing her book Dear Life: A Doctor’s Story of Love and Loss (2020), Guardian reviewer Nicci Gerrard wrote ‘In her heart-wrenchingly tender and candid account of being alongside people at their endings, she shines a light into the world of the dying.’
Breathtaking (2021) is an unflinching insider’s account of medicine in the time of coronavirus, and was adapted as a three-part series on ITV earlier this year, gaining rave reviews as “compulsory viewing” (The Standard), and “breathtakingly good” (The Times).
Rachel’s next book The Story of a Heart, set for publication in September this year, has already been hailed as “the best narrative non-fiction I’ve read in years” (Christie Watson). It explores transplant surgery through the story of two children—one of whom desperately needs a new heart. Rachel observes: “The first of our organs to form, the last to die, the heart is both a simple pump and the symbol of all that makes us human: as long as it continues to beat, we hope”.
Tickets here.
Henley Lit Fest
As both an experienced NHS palliative care doctor and a hugely talented writer, Rachel’s books have been a fascinating insight into hospital life. DEAR LIFE was a Sunday Times bestseller and BREATHTAKING became an acclaimed television series about the Covid-19 epidemic. Now THE STORY OF A HEART movingly recounts how a nine-year-old road accident victim’s heart is transplanted to another child suffering from a virus causing his heart to fail.
In conversation with Dr Jim Down.
Book here.
5 x 15
5 Speakers, 15 Minutes each.
5x15 returns to The Tabernacle for an evening of inspiring storytelling from a superb line-up of speakers:
Rachel Clarke, The Story of a Heart
Jay Rayner, Nights Out At Home
David Spiegelhalter, The Art of Uncertainty
Beatrice Forshall, Vanishing Species
Charlotte Philby, The End of Summer
Book here.
Topping Books St Andrews
Join us for an insightful evening with Dr Rachel Clarke, NHS doctor and author of multiple acclaimed books, including Breathtaking (now adapted for ITV).
The Story of a Heart follows a heart transplant between two children, reflecting on a young life saved and the unbearable loss of another.
Book here.
Topping Books Edinburgh
This September, we are delighted to be joined by NHS care doctor and three times bestselling author Rachel Clarke to celebrate her latest book, The Story of a Heart. Come along to hear more about this moving testament to compassion for the dying, the many ways we honour our loved ones, and the tenacity of love. On this special occasion, Rachel will be in conversation with Kate Womersley, an NHS Doctor in Psychiatry whose research aims to improve sex and gender equity in biomedical research.
Book here.
Linghams Booksellers
We are delighted to be welcoming Rachel Clarke to Linghams to chat about her upcoming book ‘The Story of a Heart’
There are two types of tickets; book and ticket (£22) includes a copy of the book, and redeemable (£12), the price of which can be taken away from the purchase of the book on the night.
Book here.
Schedule:
6:30 doors open, 45 minute discussion starting at 7pm, 15 minute Q&A, Meet and greet/signing
Chiltern Bookshops
Join NHS palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke, for an insightful evening discussing her latest book The Story of a Heart.
The first of our organs to form, the last to die, the heart is both a simple pump and the symbol of all that makes us human: as long as it continues to beat, we hope.
This is the unforgettable story of how one family’s grief transformed into the lifesaving gift of a heart transplant.
Book here.
Edinburgh Book Fest
More than a muscle, the heart it is a symbol of all that makes us human. Sunday Times bestselling author of Dear Life and Breathtaking (recently adapted for TV), Dr Rachel Clarke speaks to Gavin Francis about the transplant that became the subject of The Story of a Heart: her tender account of a medical team, the tenacity of love, and two children whose lives became inextricably linked.
Book here.
International Practitioner Health Summit 2024: The Wounded Healer
Rachel will speak at the International Practitioner Health Summit 2024 on how the impact of the last 4 years continues to affect frontline staff across the NHS.
Good Grief Masterclass with Kathryn Mannix: How to support people towards the end of life
Good Grief’s new Grief Academy features 7 x 75min Live Masterclass Sessions with world leading experts. Dr Kathryn Mannix + Dr Rachel Clarke’s session is entitled: How to support people towards the end of life. This will be a profound conversation between two leading lights in palliative and end of life care. They will discuss their experiences of providing care at the end of life, what people fear most (and how to help them feel less afraid), advance care planning and anticipatory grief.
Worshipful Society of Apothecaries: The John Locke Lecture 2024
Rachel’s 2024 John Locke Lecture at the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries will be on the topic of: “Speaking uncomfortable truths to the world: a critical role for a medical writer.” The lecture will be followed by drinks and an optional dinner in the Apothecaries Hall.
Henley Lit Fest: Interview with Michael Rosen
From We’re Going on a Bear Hunt to The Boris Letters, as poet, broadcaster, Children’s Laureate and author of over 200 books Michael Rosen has been cheering us up for over 50 years. Over the same time he has grieved the loss of a child, lived with debilitating chronic illness and faced death itself when seriously unwell in hospital. In spite of this he has survived, and has even learned to find joy in life in the aftermath of tragedy.
On paperback publication day for Getting Better: Life lessons on going under, getting over it, and getting through it Michael joins us in Henley to talk to Dr Rachel Clarke, author of Breathtaking and Your Life in My Hands. One of our greatest writers shares stories, moving and laugh-out loud funny moments as he investigates the road to recovery, whatever we’ve been through.
Arvon Masterclass: Creating Compelling Non-Fiction from Your Work Life
Fire fighters, nurses, cleaners, brain surgeons, fighter pilots, teachers, carers . . . Over the past ten years there has been a huge appetite for non-fiction books capturing the unique experiences of peoples’ work lives. Join Dr Rachel Clarke for this inspiring Masterclass in which she will share with you some of the tools to create a compelling narrative from your professional experience.
Green Templeton College Oxford: The Ann McPherson Memorial Lecture 2023
The Ann McPherson Memorial Lectures celebrate the late Dr Ann McPherson, former Green Templeton College Fellow. Previous speakers include Philip Pullman and Dame Clare Gerada. Rachel will speak on: “Clinicians As Advocates: Is speaking out a core duty of a doctor?”