The Invisible Kingdom

Reimagining Chronic Illness

By: Meghan O'Rourke

Narrated by: Meghan O'Rourke

A landmark exploration of one of the most consequential and mysterious issues of our time: the rise of chronic illness and autoimmune diseases

A silent epidemic of chronic illnesses afflicts tens of millions of Americans: These are diseases that are poorly understood, frequently marginalized, and can go undiagnosed and unrecognized altogether. Renowned writer Meghan O’Rourke delivers a revelatory investigation into this elusive category of “invisible” illness that encompasses autoimmune diseases, post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and now long COVID, synthesizing the personal and the universal to help all of us through this new frontier.

Drawing on her own medical experiences, as well as a decade of interviews with doctors, patients, researchers, and public health experts, O’Rourke traces the history of Western definitions of illness, and reveals how inherited ideas of cause, diagnosis, and treatment have led us to ignore a host of hard-to-understand medical conditions, ones that resist easy description or simple cures. And as America faces this health crisis of extraordinary proportions, the populations most likely to be neglected by our institutions include women, the working class, and people of color.

Blending lyricism and erudition, candor and empathy, O’Rourke brings together her deep and disparate talents and roles as critic, journalist, poet, teacher, and patient, synthesizing the personal and universal into one monumental project arguing for a seismic shift in our approach to disease. The Invisible Kingdom offers hope for the sick, solace and insight for their loved ones, and a radical new understanding of our bodies and our health.

©2022 Meghan O'Rourke (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“An authentically original voice and, perhaps more startlingly, an authentically original perspective….The book is not only a memoir of her illness, but also a document of years of research.” —Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon, in The New York Times Book Review

“The Invisible Kingdom is an important and powerful book in many ways, but perhaps its most valuable contribution is the way it articulates the loneliness and frustration of having symptoms that superficially resemble the pains and pressures of contemporary life in the United States while being much more severe.”—The Nation

“[O’Rourke] gives shape and color to the invisible life of patients whom society has failed. She offers hope for patient-driven change. Most important, she provides an account that many will be able to relate to—a ray of light into those isolated cocoons of darkness that, at one time or another, may afflict us all.” —The Wall Street Journal

So relatable

She speaks with honestly, intelligence, and empathy. This book touched my heart and helped me come to terms with my autoimmune illness.

True insight

O’Rourke accurately and insightfully lays before the reader the difficulties the chronically ill face in our medical system and provides a window into the suffering, trauma, and hopelessness those of us with chronic illness face when doctors and friends alike suggest that the illness is “in our heads”

another masterpiece in the chronic illness library

a touching account of one woman’s journey into the illness community — a community that no one wants to join, but are so thankful is there. Meghan is open about the challenges faced by both the ill and those that love them — when there is no clarity. This is a well researched book with the flare of an english professor. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who wants to understand how others have traversed the modern medical world. As a lyme sufferer and caretaker, I also enjoyed her chapter on long COVID and share her hope that progress will be made to benefit the entire chronic illness community.

Tiring for all

Exhausting at times… always for Meghan!!! She us right about providers ….hope better by now!

So good!

Powerful and important. Narration is easy to listen to. Great balance of story and science.

Intelligent, accurate and beautiful

For anyone suffering from autoimmune disease (or their loved ones) this book offers an experience of validation. The writing is clear, scientific, and laced with a detective’s curiosity. She knows the doubts and uncertainties and expresses them in a way that helped clarify my own narrative. I found myself tearful more than once with recognition. The quotes are literary and beautiful, the research is smart, and one comes away from this with a deep sense of having been seen and understood.

Wonderful

This book is such a great perspective on chronic illness. Should be mandatory reading for all healthcare providers.

Invaluable testament

This personal account, threaded through with pithy and perfectly chosen literary, historical and medical research, is far from merely anecdotal. I enjoyed O’Rourke’s reading for the most part, and moved through the chapters quickly and eagerly. As a person who’s struggled with chronic auto-immunity in my own body, I feel indebted to the author’s tender, thorough treatment of the complex profile of disease in the modern world.

Quite a Journey of Self Reflection on Long Term Illness

Her illness plagued the author to seek medical care and lament its failings to find a true solution. But it also showed her determination to do what she could to improve her life while ill. I was touched by her ups and downs as i too have had chronic illness my whole life.

It is excellent

This is the most realistic explanation of living with chronic illness I have ever come across. I’m so grateful she wrote this book now. I’m high risk and the complete isolation covid quarantining has caused has been absolutely brutal. I’ve been abandoned by friends, family, medical professionals, and now society as you all force the embrace of a new normal. No matter the cost. I wish my family would listen to it, but they won’t. If you have a chronically ill friend or family member it would probably mean the world to them if you read this book and talked to them about it.