‘Breathtakingly good. Darkly funny and deeply true. I was furious when I had to interrupt my reading to put the book down and live.’

‘The First Time I Thought I Was Dying blew me away. In this unparalleled age of self-surveillance – a peak moment for body-estrangement – Walker reacquaints us with the true sorcery of the senses, and with the inner life awakened by loving the body in all its animal unruliness. The essays in this collection are engrossing, unflinching, vitalising and wise.’

‘A stunning portrait of a body as captured by the eye of a true artist. Walker has found just the right words to describe its mystery, and how we live within it, in all its gnarly and wonderful glory.’

‘In these essays Sarah Walker outstares shame, outwits the spectre of self-commodification and outclasses so much of contemporary writing on bodies and embodiment. An unafraid and thrilling book.’

‘As soon as I started reading Sarah Walker's book, I knew I was in the presence of a special writer. There's a freshness and immediacy to the voice, and an incisiveness and intelligence to the writing, that captured my attention throughout.’