Life, Interrupted

‘What’s up with your mum?’
     We sit on the railings and, as the grey clouds scud over our heads,
I tell Jack and Freya about Mum being ill. I don’t tell them that I’m worried stupid, but they’re my mates, I think they can work that out for themselves. I also tell them about Jesse and his accident. The prat.
     ‘Blimey – sixty-six per cent of one family in hospital at the same time!’ says Jack. ‘You’d better watch yourself, Lukey. It could be an ancient Indian curse . . . Why don’t you sleep at mine tonight?’
     ‘Yeah, go on,’ I say. ‘Don’t fancy another night home alone.’
     To tell the truth, I’ve eaten the last pizza anyway.

Luke’s world is turned upside down when his mum collapses at the hospital where she works as a nurse. Fourteen-year-old Luke and his football-obsessed younger brother Jesse each cope in their different ways, and, as time passes, they must confront some painful truths.

Honest, funny and deeply moving, this is a story about facing the worst and surviving.

Longlisted for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize

'Life, Interrupted is a lovely, warm, funny book – though searingly sad at times. I wish I'd written it.'
Jacqueline Wilson

'Damian has very cleverly written a book about a very sad subject
that somehow manages to leave you feeling very happy.'
Charlie Higson

'An important book that everyone should read.'
Eoin Colfer

'Sure-footed and perceptive, warm and funny and oh so sad.
The characters are absolutely living, breathing beings.
Damian writes completely from the heart, and it shows.'
Vivian French

Thoughtful and sensitive description of a 14-year-old boy and his football-mad younger brother aged 11 losing their single mother to cancer. But this is no unwelcome addition to the already overstocked shelves of teenage misery lit. Both boys show every sign of coming through their ordeal extremely moving and ... genuinely funny. 4 Stars.
Books For Keeps

Read an extract from Life, Interrupted