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The mid-section is devoted to the ‘Much with Body’ sequence, based on quotes from transcripts of the journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, from the later period of her life when she was ill. Polly’s empathy is manifest in these exquisite fragments. We feel the burden of the cold winters, the torpor of illness, the resilience amidst the pain, the wild consolation of storms and walks in blustery weathers.   In the third section we step (or don’t step but imagine) backwards and through disability and discover strange incarnations. Insomnia becomes a useful dream state. Legally imposed isolation and quarantine isn’t that different from lengthy periods of recovery, the body confined to haunting the house and garden. 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Lee, author of Turning  'It raises the standard of nature writing. This is both radical manifesto and activism in book form' Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean  After years of unexplained health problems, Polly Atkin's perception of her body was rendered fluid and disjointed. When she was finally diagnosed with two chronic conditions in her thirties, she began to piece together what had been happening to her - all the misdiagnoses, the fractures, the dislocations, the bone-crushing exhaustion, the not being believed.  Some of Us Just Fall combines memoir, pathography and nature writing to trace a fascinating journey through illness, a journey which led Polly to her current home in the Lake District, where outdoor swimming is purported to cure all, and where every day she turns to the natural world to help tame her illness. Polly delves into the history of her two genetic conditions, uncovering how these illnesses were managed (or not) in times gone by and exploring how best to plan for her own future.   From medical misogyny and gaslighting, to the illusion of 'the nature cure', this essential, beautiful and deeply personal book examines how we deal with bodies that diverge from the norm, and why this urgently needs to change.  This is not a book about getting better. 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This is both radical manifesto and activism in book form'  Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean  'Long before I knew I was sick, I knew I was breakable . . .'  After years of unexplained health problems, Polly Atkin's understanding of her body had become fluid and disjointed. When she was finally diagnosed with two chronic conditions in her thirties, she began to piece together her own history: the fractures and dislocations, the exhaustion and medical disregard.  A searing blend of memoir, nature writing and pathography, Some of Us Just Fall traces a remarkable journey through illness. From misdiagnoses to wild swimming in the Lake District, Polly examines her genetic inheritance, her place in the natural world and her future in her body.  'Defiant and dazzling' Freya Bromley, author of The Tidal Year","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49754179469585,"sku":"NGR9781399718011","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50289886101777,"sku":"GOR013914222","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52584093974801,"sku":"NLS9781399718011","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53383389413649,"sku":"GOR014891366","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53449938010385,"sku":"GOR014927187","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1399718010.jpg?v=1751436665"},{"product_id":"company-of-owls-book-polly-atkin-9781783968145","title":"The Company of Owls","description":"As the autumn nights draw in, join Polly Atkin in a nocturnal love song to the owls that surround her Lake District home  a stunning meditation on learning to listen in a world full of noise.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50575989375249,"sku":"NGR9781783968145","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50679890739473,"sku":"GOR014032536","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50713398247697,"sku":"GOR014045100","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52771424272657,"sku":"GOR014614367","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1783968141.jpg?v=1751311997"},{"product_id":"some-of-us-just-fall-book-polly-atkin-9781961884007","title":"Some of Us Just Fall","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"In her contemplative memoir, Polly Atkin encourages everyone, especially those with chronic illnesses, to look beyond their own history and see the beauty in their world.\" \u003ci\u003e--The Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Defiant and dazzling.\" \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e--\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eFreya Bromley, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Tidal Year \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Essential reading.\" \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e--\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eJessica J. 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Circumscribed by a chronic illness to her cottage and the surrounding area, she turns to the trees and the animals among them for companionship—especially the owl siblings who surprise and delight her. As Atkin watches them grow from curious fledglings into sleek raptors, she contemplates the act of survival and our place within it. When should a human intervene? When should nature take its course? What do the owls know that we do not?   The owls encourage her to think differently about solitude and community, individuality and belonging, rest and retreat. And with them as her companions, she weighs the many types of company we keep—in our relationships, in the darkness, and in our entanglement with the digital world that connects us across continents.  A resounding call to find joy in unexpected places, The Company of Owls is a love letter to the world, teaching us to listen amid clamor and noise.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51628180930833,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51628181094673,"sku":"NGR9781639551804","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52997961220369,"sku":"NIN9781639551804","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53601681768721,"sku":"CIN1639551808G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1639551808.jpg?v=1773312567"},{"product_id":"shadow-dispatches-book-polly-atkin-9781781720776","title":"Shadow Dispatches","description":"These acutely observed and atmospheric poems by Polly Atkin in her new pamphlet, Shadow Dispatches, from Seren press, offer us a slant perspective on everyday things and events...","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51711259967761,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51711260066065,"sku":"GOR013669343","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53269434204433,"sku":"GOR014847821","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1781720770.jpg?v=1751059420"},{"product_id":"ten-poems-from-the-lake-district-book-polly-atkin-9781913627607","title":"Ten Poems from the Lake District","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51719889748241,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51719889879313,"sku":"NGR9781913627607","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1913627608.jpg?v=1751156042"},{"product_id":"emergency-dream-book-polly-atkin-9781781727959","title":"Emergency Dream","description":"Emergency Dream grows out of the entangled emergencies of our times: social, political and personal. 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It is a story of acceptance, persistence and finding joy in the everyday, as eight years of outdoor swimming through every season deepen Atkin’s knowledge and understanding of both the landscape she calls home and her disabled body.   Each month in the water reveals how a life lived with pain can be as rich, rewarding and full of delight as any other. Atkin swims for the sheer pleasure of it, showing how that pleasure may be found in every season, even by those who find the cold neither thrilling nor soothing. She reminds us of the quiet power of noticing the lives alongside ours — birds, plants and people. 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