Wishart has created something that will offer comfort to thousands: patients and their relatives may now better understand the reasoning behind some of the investigations and treatments they undergo. And by highlighting successes, medicine's aim of making cancer something we live with, not die from, seems less of a distant hope.
Faced by his father's mortality, Adam is imprisoned by emotions. Both father and son are bound by the social stereotypes and expectations of their gender. The pursuit of understanding is the comfort zone of their relationship, and so begins the author's research into the history of cancer...... ....... One in Three offers real hope.
"This emotionally charged account distinguishes itself not simply in the way it gracefully meshes together complex, competing theories about the disease, but in its generous use of a loved one as a case study."
Simon Singh has written a lovely review:
"ONE IN THREE describes Adam's attempts to understand the history, science and treatment of the illness. It is also a touching and deeply personal farewell. ... Wishart succeeds brilliantly in constructing a narrative that is a tribute both to his father and the scientists who have parly unpacked the mystery of cancer"
General Practitioner Des Spence wrote a lovely review in this month's literary review.
"ONE IN THREE is a different type of cancer book. It is calm, factual, beautifully written, intelligent and moving. ... this book brings understanding, and most of all it also brings some hope."
When I first heard about One in Three, in particular that it was a son’s personal journey into the history of science and cancer, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was concerned that this book would be too grim or too personal. However, I am delighted to say that I was wrong; this is a fascinating book of the history of medicine and cancer and, in the end, reassuring.
An imaginative fusion of anecdotal detail, medical science and poignant, elegiac narrative marks every chapter of this unusual book..... What emerges is a unique profile of a father-son relationship, poignantly affectionate yet utterly devoid of sentimentality.
Every year a great many books are published about cancer. Scientific studies in oncology proliferate as medical science expands. There is a virtual publishing industry, moreover, in objective, information, advice, and self-help for a general readership. There are also books that tell the stories of individual sufferers; they do not make comfortable reading. Yet some accounts succeed in giving both sufferers and those close to them hope and strength. It is this cathartic effect that raises CS Lewis’s A Grief Observed (later made into the film Shadowlands), into a work of literature. And now there is Wishart’s book, which inhabits a remarkable genre of its own.
From the New Scientist
"THIS book does two things well. First, it details the history of medical science's crusade against cancer, from the brutal surgery of the early 19th century to the latest work on its genetic origins, while explaining the biology of the disease and how it spreads so successfully. Secondly, alongside this the author interweaves a frank story of his father's fight against cancer. He spares few details, from the effects on his father's state of mind to the defective p53 gene in his prostate. The result is perhaps the most readable and comprehensive account out there of our battle with the big C."
David Lodge, the author of Small World, Changing Places and Nice Work, says this about my book.
"One in Three shines like a good deed in a world full of unnecessary books. No disease exerts such universal dread as cancer, and yet few of us really understand its nature. By interweaving a moving, but unsentimental, account of his father’s last illness and death with a lucid history of cancer and the efforts of medical science to find a cure for it, Adam Wishart has produced a book that is informative, balanced, accessible, and absolutely riveting."
How good is that?
Claire Rayner, long time agony aunt, one-time cancer patients and President of the Patients Association has lovely things to say about my book.
“This book is a remarkable meld of medical history, scientific fact, and the human experience of cancer, once – and to an extent still – the most feared of diseases. Adam Wishart follows his father’s experience of cancer, as well as his own as a son, in the most enthralling manner possible. I couldn’t commend it more highly.”
How good is that?
I am Adam Wishart, a writer and documentary maker. I wrote ONE IN THREE : a son's journey into the history and science of cancer. It was nominated for the Royal Society Book Prize.
Read the Book's Introduction
I started it because my dad fell ill with cancer, and I wanted a book which answered some of my basic questions: how did he get it, would he be healed and why was there no cure?
"An amazing book" says Professor Karol Sikora. "Riveting" says David Lodge
Before that I wrote LEAVING REALITY BEHIND.
"An important story and as absorbing as a well crafted thriller." The Financial Times Other reviews.
And before that I made documentaries for the BBC. One of which won an RTS Award.
To contact me please email me at adam (at) adamwishart.info
