Will You Read This, Please? edited by Joanna Cannon #WillYouReadThisPlease @JoannaCannon @BoroughPress #BookReview #MentalHealth

 

How do we give a voice to those who so often remain unheard? Will You Read This, Please? is a frank and impactful collection of twelve stories as told to our best British writers, based on the lived experience of people who have faced mental illness in the UK.

Edited by Joanna Cannon, the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, Three Things About Elsie and A Tidy Ending, the stories told here are powerful, resonant and heart-breaking. This is a ground-breaking and unforgettable collection, shining a light on the stigma and isolation of living with mental illness, while also showing the strength and resilience of the human spirit.

SARAH’S STORY  - JOANNA CANNON

JEREMY’S STORY  - TRACY CHEVALIER

JEN’S STORY  - CATHERINE CHO

MARIE’S STORY  - BENJAMIN JOHNCOCK

FRANKI’S STORY  - REBECCA PERT

NICOLA’S STORY  - JENN ASHWORTH

CAT’S STORY - SHELLEY HARRIS

PHOENIX’S STORY  - HAFSA ZAYYAN

LEWIS’S STORY  - RHIK SAMADDER

SANMEET’S STORY  - SELALI FIAMANYA

ALAIN’S STORY  - KATHRYN MANNIX

JOYIA’S STORY  - CLARE MACKINTOSH

Will You Read This, Please? edited by Joanna Cannon was published in hardback on 11 May 2023 by The Borough Press. I bought my copy from Walkers Bookshop in Oakham.

This collection of stories, told by the subjects to a variety of different authors, and written by those authors is an incredibly important and moving testament to those people who live daily with mental health issues. 

In her introduction to the collection, Joanna Cannon explains her reasoning for compiling this book. She tells of how she worked as a psychiatrist and how her patients often thrust pieces of paper into her hands, asking her; will you read this, please? 

She has gathered up some of our finest authors who worked closely with each subject, listening and transcribing their own experiences, and the result is a collection of stories that cannot fail to touch the heart of the reader.

Every single subject is different, every single story is written in a different style, and every single piece in this book allows the personality of the teller to shine through. There's a wide variety of mental illnesses, and treatments, and emotions displayed in this book. There are subjects who are fully understanding of their own issues, and there are some who are still struggling to come to terms with their lives.

It's a compassionate and often brutally honest account of illness that can touch any one of us. There's no exceptions to mental illness. Money, power and status are disregarded when the brain becomes unstable, and in this day and age, I feel that more people need to read true accounts, instead of dismissing and stigmatising mental illness as so often happens. 

An incredible collection that I highly recommend. 

Joanna Cannon graduated from Leicester Medical School and worked as a hospital
doctor, before specialising in psychiatry.
Her novels, The Trouble With Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie, were both Sunday Times bestsellers and Richard and Judy picks.
Her new novel, A Tidy Ending, was published in April 2022.
She lives in the Peak District with her dog, Lewis.

www.joannacannon.co.uk

@JoannaCannon

Instagram @drjocannon