It's Not Yet Dark by Simon Fitzmaurice
Synopsis
A luminous memoir in the tradition of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and a #1 bestseller upon its initial release in Ireland, a young filmmaker gives us "a story of courage, of heart, of coming back for more, of love and struggle and the power of both" (Joseph O'Connor).
In 2008, Simon Fitzmaurice was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. He was given four years to live. In 2010, in a state of lung-function collapse, Simon knew with crystal clarity that now was not his time to die. Against all prevailing medical opinion, he chose to ventilate in order to stay alive.
In It's Not Yet Dark, the young filmmaker, a husband and father of five small children, draws us deeply into his inner world. Told in simply expressed and beautifully stark prose, it is an astonishing journey into a life that, though brutally compromised, is lived more fully than most, revealing at its core the potent power love has to carry us through the days.
Written using an eye-gaze computer, It's Not Yet Dark is an unforgettable book about relationships and family, about what connects and separates us as people, and, ultimately, about what it means to be alive.
Reviews
'A fiercely eloquent testament to making the most out of every moment we're given.' People, Book of the Week
'Beautifully written. Utterly life-affirming.' Alan Rickman
'A beautiful love story - in its essence that's what this is. Survival stories are not about surviving, they're inherently about what makes a survivor push through. A desire to remain in the light of all creation, even as a darkening is taking place. A darkening which happens to us all.' Colin Farrell
'[A] gripping, affecting, sometimes funny read by a natural-born storyteller with something to say about the weight and the value of a life...If you need a story of courage, of heart, of coming back for more, of love and struggle and the power of both, It's Not Yet Dark could be the elusive thing you're after.' Joseph O'Connor
'Less a memoir of dying than a memoir of refusing to die...Vibrant.' Minneapolis Star-Tribune
About the Author
Simon Fitzmaurice is an award-winning writer and film director. His debut memoir, It's Not Yet Dark, was a #1 bestseller in Ireland. His films have screened all over the world and won prizes at home and abroad. His first feature film was just released in the UK and the United States.