Some of Us Just Fall

On Nature and Not Getting Better

By: Polly Atkin

Narrated by: Polly Atkin

'Long before I knew I was sick, I knew I was breakable...'

A raw and exquisite meditation on chronic illness and our place within the landscape, from prize-winning poet Polly Atkin.

After years of unexplained health problems, Polly Atkin's perception of her body was rendered fluid and disjointed. When she was finally diagnosed with two chronic conditions in her thirties, she began to piece together what had been happening to her - all the misdiagnoses, the fractures, the dislocations, the bone-crushing exhaustion, the not being believed.

Some of Us Just Fall combines memoir, pathography and nature writing to trace a fascinating journey through illness, a journey which led Polly to her current home in the Lake District, where outdoor swimming is purported to cure all, and where every day Polly uses the natural world to help tame her illness. Polly delves into the history of her two genetic conditions, uncovering how these illnesses were managed (or not) in times gone by and exploring how best to plan for her own future.

From medical misogyny and gaslighting, to the illusion of 'the nature cure', this essential, beautiful and deeply personal book examines how we deal with bodies that diverge from the norm, and why this urgently needs to change. This is not a book about getting better, this is a book about living better with illness.

©2023 Polly Atkin (P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic reviews

Polly Atkin's Some of Us Just Fall unpicks the body of the wild, alongside the disabled wilderness of Atkin's own body. It gives us an experience that is both timely and timeless: of medical gaslighting, a body in pain, and the search for coping strategies out in the natural world. With a poet's insight and a deep understanding of place, Atkin pulls us again and again to witness the fractured, the breathless, the untameable bodies that permeate her book. I was immersed. (Katie Hale, author of My Name Is Monster)

Some of Us Just Fall is a remarkable book that deepens our understanding of what it can mean to be human... it offers a much-needed counterpoint to ill-thinking notions of nature cure... This is both radical manifesto and activism in book form. (Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean)

Polly Atkin has conjured magic in this story of a life touched harshly by illness and misunderstanding, demonstrating a deep connection to the natural world and the voices of the past. Beyond the mesmeric writing on nature and place, Some of Us Just Fall acts as a stark reminder of the implications of misdiagnosis. It is a reminder to remain curious, keep asking questions and open our mind to the possibility that everything is not as it seems. (Caro Giles, author of Twelve Moons)