The Faces of One

She had learned to live far from home. Falling ill far from home was another story.

What seems to be the recurrence of an old abscess turns into a succession of hospital stays, procedures and uncertain diagnoses that puts her kidneys and her life at risk. In Germany, far from much of her family and forced to explain her pain in another language, a woman watches her everyday routine give way to waiting, needles and fear. Used to carrying on, she will have to learn something she has always struggled with: letting others care for her.

But even in hospital there is room for laughter. Amid conversations with doctors, endless paperwork and absurd situations, there are also those who make the unbearable bearable: a partner who stays by her side, a nurse who listens, friends who bridge the distance and a cat determined to keep her company.

The Faces of One is a novelized memoir inspired by real events, about illness, migration and the fragility of what we believe we can control. With an intimate voice, humour and a faith threaded with uncertainty, it tells of the difficult road to recovery and the discovery of how much others can sustain us.

A story about the fear of losing the life we know and the support of those who stand by us when we need it most.