An awarding-winning author has released her third book which recounts the hardships she has faced through her severe chronic illness.
Jessica Taylor-Bearman, from Witham, is a published author who will be concluding her ‘A Girl’ memoir series with the release of the third instalment, A Girl Beyond Closed Doors, as it released yesterday.
The book is a personal and heart-wrenchingly honest depiction of Jessica’s life with the chronic illness, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), which she was diagnosed with at the age of 15 years.
The illness is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome and it has a wide range of symptoms such as extreme tiredness.
Other common symptoms include problems with thinking, memory and concentration, trouble sleeping and needing a longer time to recover after physical activity.
To celebrate the release, there will be an official launch on November 25 at Witham URC Church, in Newland Street.
A spokesman for the author spoke more about Jessica and the details of the forthcoming final book from the series.
They said: “For the past eighteen years she has fought varying severities of the disease.
“At her worst, she was bed bound and unable to move or speak. She was fed through a tube and hospitalised for four continuous years.
“Now she writes when she is well enough and is also mum to two children.
“A Girl Beyond Closed Doors is the third - and final - in the A Girl memoir series.
“It follows on from her debut book A Girl Behind Dark Glasses, and sequel A Girl in One Room.
“In A Girl Beyond Closed Doors, it follows Jessica from being housebound to the journey of becoming a chronically ill mum after years of being too unwell to look after herself.
“Jessica wants to raise awareness of the reality of severe ME, which is very misunderstood and often voiceless.”
The author has been shortlisted for the People’s Book Prize 2023 and has used her books to raise much needed awareness for the chronic illness.
Her 2018 debut, A Girl Behind Dark Glasses, won the non-fiction writer award for the People's Book Prize in 2020.
You can find out more about Jessica and her work by visiting her website, jaytay.co.uk.
To purchase tickets for the launch event, click tinyurl.com/cetwbauc.
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