AustLit

'When I was 19, I had my ankle fused. To fix it, I underwent a procedure called a subtalar fusion, which used a bone graft from my shin and two huge screws to put the joint in place. In the unnamed narrator of Katherine Brabon’s Body Friend, I saw a mirror of myself from that point in my life. Someone young, suffering with pain from a source that no one can identify, hoping that surgery will ‘fix’ her. Likewise, the narrator sees a mirror of herself in two women she meets in the aftermath of surgery. Through these three women, Body Friend explores concepts of pain, illness, the self and recovery—how they influence and are influenced by one another.'(Introduction)