I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell (Omnibus)

Available for 30 days

A memoir with a difference, subtitled: "Seventeen Brushes With Death". Award-winning novelist Maggie O'Farrell tells her life story through a series of vignettes of her near-death experiences. These include: * A childhood illness she was not expected to survive * A terrifying encounter on a remote mountain path * A mismanaged labour in an understaffed hospital Her 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?" Omnibus of five parts read by Hattie Morahan. Abridged and produced by Kirsteen Cameron First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2017.