My Most Autobiographical Work to Date: A Guest Post by Sophie Kinsella
A brave and triumphant story from an author we’ve loved reading for years, this is the searing portrayal of a sickness, a marriage, and a writer who persevered. Read on to discover the personal inspiration behind What Does It Feel Like?. Here’s Sophie Kinsella, in her own words.
Hardcover $22.00
What Does It Feel Like?
What Does It Feel Like?
In Stock Online
Hardcover $22.00
From #1 bestselling author Sophie Kinsella, an unforgettable story—by turns heartbreaking and life-affirming—of a renowned novelist facing a devastating diagnosis and learning to live and love anew.
From #1 bestselling author Sophie Kinsella, an unforgettable story—by turns heartbreaking and life-affirming—of a renowned novelist facing a devastating diagnosis and learning to live and love anew.
What Does It Feel Like? is fiction, but it is my most autobiographical work to date. Eve’s story is my story.
In the autumn of 2022, I began to feel ill – and my early signs of cancer were the same as Eve’s. I underwent an eight-hour operation to remove my glioblastoma tumour, and went through subsequent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. I learned to walk again, to balance again, to move my head again and function again.
Why did I fictionalize my story? In a strange way, it liberated me to be honest and raw. I have five children: Freddy, Hugo, Oscar, Rex and Sybella. Somehow it was easier to write about them honestly using fictional names. I felt free to change details and make the story work as best I could.
Because, although it is autobiographical, not every detail in this book is true. Some events happened in a different order or I have altered them slightly. But all inventions are minor and don’t change the essential truth of the story.
Readers will notice that the style of this book is different from my normal novels, and again, this just was the most natural way for me to tell the story. It poured out of me in the form of vignettes and snippets and slices of life; somehow I couldn’t tell it in any other way.
Why did I write such a personal book?
I am a very private person, so it may seem strange that I have revealed so many raw details of my life to the world. However, I have always processed my life using writing. Hiding behind my fictional characters, I have always turned my own life into a narrative. It is my version of therapy, maybe. Writing is my happy place, and writing this book, although tough going at times, was immensely satisfying and therapeutic for me.
From my engagement on social media, I have come across many readers who are going through similar struggles or challenges to mine and Eve’s. I really hope that Eve’s optimism might be helpful or inspiring to anyone suffering cancer or another illness or supporting a sufferer.
And finally, I wish everyone reading this a very happy ending.
