The Leopard in my House

<b>''A deep, personal, clever and witty book'' </b><i>Michael Rosen </i><b>|</b> <b>''Funny, moving, wise and then very funny again</b>'' <i>John O''Farrell</i> | <b>''clear-eyed, humane and engaging'' </b><i>Observer</i> <b>| ''inspiring'' </b><i>Guardian</i><br><br><i>I feel like there’s a leopard in my house, locked in a room. I’ve contacted the leopard authorities and they assure me they are used to dealing with leopards like this, and they have a plan for removing the leopard. It will take a while, though, and once in a while I can hear it growl.</i><br><br><i>And that’s all very reassuring. Even so, several times a day I think to myself: “Hang on, there’s a leopard in my house.”</i><br><br>One morning, while shaving, the comedian Mark Steel noticed that one side of his neck seemed larger than the other. After a whistlestop tour of assorted medical professionals, a consultant delivered the ominous words that would define the next months of his life: ‘I’m afraid it’s not good news, Mr Steel’.<br><br>And so began a journey into the heart of the NHS, as he embarked on the long and uncertain road to cancer recovery via a range of mildly torturous and entirely miraculous treatments. What, if anything, might he learn about himself – and our capacity for coping with life when times get tough – as he becomes part of a club that one in two British people will ultimately join?<br><br>A frank and funny diary of one man’s rather trying year, this is an unforgettable and uplifting story of getting ill, getting on with it, and getting better.