A Second Wind

The True Story that Inspired the Motion Picture 'The Intouchables'

By: Philippe Pozzo di Borgo

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Now a major motion picture - The Upside - starring Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, and Nicole Kidman.

Discover the moving and heartfelt number-one international best seller and inspiration for the film The Upside about an aristocratic Frenchman who is paralyzed in an accident and has to adjust to his new normal with the help of his unlikely caregiver.

As the descendent of two prominent French families and director of legendary Pommery Champagnes, Philippe Pozzo di Borgo was not generally someone in the habit of asking for help. Then, in 1993, right on the heels of his beloved wife’s diagnosis of a terminal illness, an accident left him a quadriplegic. He was 42 years old and unable to do anything - even feed himself - without the help of another person.

Passing his days hidden behind the high walls of his Paris townhouse, Philippe was totally isolated. His paralysis rendered him unable to reach out to others and seemed to make people unwilling to touch him or acknowledge the reality of his existence. For the first time, he learned what it felt like to be excluded.

The only person who seemed not to be bothered by Philippe’s condition was someone who had been marginalized his entire life: Abdel, an unemployed, uninhibited Algerian immigrant from the outskirts of society who would become Philippe's unlikely caretaker. With his tenacious spirit and irreverent sense of humor, Abdel is able to reawaken Philippe’s connection to people and the larger world around him.

A Second Wind is the inspiring true story of two men who refused to ask for help, and then wound up helping each other in more ways than they could imagine.

©2012 Philippe Pozzo di Borgo (P)2012 Simon & Schuster

Enlightening complement to the remarkable movie

After seeing and enjoying the movie three times it was hard to imagine that the book could come close to how I felt about that wonderful movie The INTOUCHABLES. But having phillippe pozzo di borgo's first person narrative fill in the incredible details of his life before and after the movie, I was just as enthralled and plan to listen to it all over again. His caretaker Abdel Sellou has also written a book, YOU CHANGED MY LIFE which is on kindle but not on audible . . . Yet. Hope it will be soon as it is also a remarkable piece of writing that I would love to hear narrated.

InTouch- able

To truly appreciate their amazing story, first see the movie, "The Intouchables," then read Abdul's book, "You Changed My Life," then "A Second Wind." All are inspiring, but enjoyed in sequence, they tell a much more comprehensive and comprehensible story.

incredible story

I am a quadriplegic myself and I understand everything he went through. everyone was spinal cord injuries how different experiences regardless of our level of injuries. In other words, Philippe and I are quadriplegics, and we share similar symptoms. however, we have different experiences depending on our environments or other personal situations.