The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor of Elle magazine, had a stroke which left him completely paralysed apart from one eye. By blinking while the listener recited the alphabet, he was able to communicate and write this short memoir. He was a father of two young children, and he lived only a few days after the publication of this book. It’s full of longing, full of hope, both angry and humorous, and extremely human.

He writes about one perfect day he shared with his children; writes about the day that his stroke occurred; writes about the history of the hospital, about how he feels about his carers, about the things he imagines as well as the things he experiences. He was only forty-three, and he lived less than a year after his stroke, but this book isn’t a book of grief but a book of life.