‘Sparkles with dark humour and wonder at the world’
– Observer
‘A tribute to the power of humanity, generosity and endurance….incredibly powerful stuff.’
– Guardian
‘The miracle is not that she has written about the experience, although that would be remarkable enough … What is so surprising is that this is a tremendous book, beautifully written and full of hard-won hope and unexpected humour. It isn’t a misery memoir, nor a self-help guide. It’s a little masterpiece’
– Mail on Sunday
It began with a burning sensation on her face when she was exposed to computer screens and fluorescent lighting. Then the burning spread and the problematic light sources proliferated. Her extreme sensitivity to light in all forms means she must spend much of her life in total darkness.
During the best times, she can venture cautiously outside at dusk and dawn, avoiding high-strength streetlamps. During the worst, she must spend months in a darkened room, listening to audiobooks, inventing word-games and fighting to keep despair at bay.
Told with great beauty, humour and honesty, Girl in the Dark is the astonishing and uplifting account of Anna’s descent into the depths of her extraordinary illness. It is the story of how, through her determination to make her impossible life possible and with the love of those around her, she has managed to find light in even the darkest of places.
