In this one hour talk, author and GP Dr Gavin Francis will reflect on his book 'Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence' and consider how we might make space for rest and recovery in our daily lives.
Free, book here. Please note that this talk will be shared on the ‘Views from Convalsecent Hill’ digital archive in late September.
This event is programmed as part of a series of free public events that celebrate and share ‘Views from Convalescent Hill’: a community-led research and creative project exploring the heritage of rest, wellbeing and care in Felixstowe.
Published in 2022, Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence is a short, uplifting account of hope and healing.
When it comes to illness, sometimes the end is just the beginning. Recovery and convalescence are words that exist at the periphery of our lives – until we are forced to contend with what they really mean.
Here, GP and writer Gavin Francis explores how – and why – we get better, revealing the many shapes recovery takes, its shifting history and the frequent failure of our modern lives to make adequate space for it.
Characterised by Francis’s beautiful prose and his view of medicine as “the alliance of science and kindness”, ‘Recovery’ is a book about a journey that most of us never intend to make. Along the way, he unfolds a story of hope, transformation, and the everyday miracle of healing.
Dr Gavin Francis has worked across four continents as a surgeon, emergency physician, medical officer with the British Antarctic Survey and latterly as a GP. He’s the author of the Sunday Times-bestselling ‘Adventures in Human Being’ and ‘Recovery’, as well as ‘Shapeshifters’ and ‘Intensive Care’. He also writes for the Guardian, The Times, the London Review of Books and Granta.
Views from Convalescent Hill was initiated by Pier Projects Art Agency, in partnership with freelance project manager Laura Davison. It is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and East Suffolk District Council and is supported by Suffolk Archives, Felixstowe Museum, Suffolk Libraries and Felixstowe Old People’s Welfare Association.
Visit the project’s digital archive here
(Image: James Glossop)