"This is a Borzoi book." -- title page verso.

"A poignant memoir of recovery and reflection after a life-changing stroke, by a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award"--,Provided by publisher.

June 2011. Just days before his sixty-ninth birthday, Jonathan Raban was sitting down to dinner with his daughter when he found he couldn't move his knife to his plate. Later that night, at the hospital, doctors confirmed he had suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke, paralyzing the right side of his body. Once he became stable, Raban embarked on an extended stay at a rehabilitation center, struggling to accept the limitations of his new body. Woven into his story is that his father, Peter, faced in the trenches during World War II. With intimate letters that his parents exchanged at the time, Raban moves between narratives, his and theirs, artfully exploring the human capacity to adapt to trauma, as well as the warmth, strength, and humor that persist despite it. -- adapted from jacket