Maggie O'Farrell: 'The book is a kind of patchwork of bits of my life, and my children’s lives'
Picture by Fergal Phillips
SOME years ago, Maggie O’Farrell was in the back of an ambulance with her middle child – who – since birth, has suffered from extreme, sometimes life-threatening, allergic reactions.
“That night she was very sick and was very frightened. Her teeth were chattering. And she said, ‘Why am I so cold?’” In order to explain to her daughter, without scaring her further, Maggie transposed her answer into metaphor.
