Waiting Game

Book excerpt: Every picture tells a story; every story carries a hundred interpretations. The Waiting Game is the story of three very different women, born in three very different epochs with unique challenges and outcomes that reflect the worlds they live in. It is also the story of three very different men, born in three different epochs with challenges and outcomes that reflect the worlds they live in. And at the heart of it all lies seventeen-year-old Holly - static - in a coma - beyond reach. Or is she? What is a coma? What is a minimally conscious state? How can one differentiate between a conscious thinking state and an unconscious dream-like state? What is the difference between reality and fiction? This story, like all good stories, is rooted in fact; and the facts of this particular story, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Thatcherite Eighties and the Blaire Nineties, all have their place in history. Yet the question remains eternal: to what degree should you wear your heart on your sleeve? All proceeds from the sale of this book go to a subject very close to my heart and the women pictured on the front-cover: the cancer charity, Penny Brohn UK.