Shattered: Life with M.E.

Shattered: Life with M.E. is an autobiographical book by Dr. Lynn Michell published in 2003.

Publisher's synopsis
A powerful account of life with M.E. from the eyes of a sufferer, describing the feeling of a ‘life interrupted’ through a variety of voices, Shattered will offer empathy, hope and support to sufferers and their families as well as giving practical advice on how to live with chronic fatigue.

It is March 1987. There is a flu bug doing the rounds in Edinburgh, which floors Lynn Michell and her two sons. Instead of pulling out of their ill and exhausted state, none of them gets better. It takes three years for Lynn's elder son to recover. She and her younger son are still ill 16 years later.

In Shattered, Lynn Michell tells of haunting episodes in her own life with ME, a "still life" suspended by a savagely capricious illness, as well as the stories of many others – men, women and young people – which convey the complexity of ME, an illness which deals out a slightly different hand of cards each time it strikes. This tapestry of voices is held together by Lynn's own intelligent, loving, and often angry commentary and as such it is a tour de force. While the first person snapshots of sufferers of all ages paint an accurate picture of "life interrupted", readers will find hope, humour and ways of surviving as they recognise others who live and feel and react just as they do.

Awards
Shattered: Life with M.E. was nominated for the UK MIND "Book of the Year" award in 2004.

Articles and interviews
14 May 2003, Running on empty and abandoned, Dr Lynn Michell. The New Scotsman.

Links

 * Shattered: Life with M.E. - Amazon (US)
 * Shattered: Life with M.E. - Amazon (UK)
 * Shattered: Life with M.E. - Goodreads