{"product_id":"diary-of-a-vampire-in-pyjamas-isbn-9781786480347","title":"Diary of a Vampire in Pyjamas","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThis is a memoir by French bestselling and  award-winning author and musician Mathias Malzieu. It focuses on a  single year in which he explores his close encounter with death.  Insightful, tragic and even often very funny, it is a hugely  inspirational read.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn November 2013 Malzieu is diagnosed with a  rare and life-threatening blood disease: his bone marrow does not  produce enough blood cells, and those that survive are being attacked by  the body's natural antibodies as if they were viruses. Highly anemic  and at risk of a cardiac attack or fatal hemorrhaging, Malzieu is  whisked into hospital, and spends months in a sterile isolation room. He  is kept alive by blood transfusions, while waiting for a bone marrow  transplant. When he has the energy for it, he writes in his diary and  strums his ukulele.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo read this book is to be in awe of the  triumph of the human spirit. As a reader you find yourself marveling at  how we find the mechanisms to cope with tragedy and uncertainty when  faced with the reality that we may die. Malzieu's highly active  imagination allows him to transcend the limits of his body and its  increasing failures through fantasy and escapism. His wonderfully  addictive childish wonder with a punk Gothic twist lifts the narrative  from being a depressing account to a reading experience that is  evocative, poetic and intensely moving. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMalzieu survived thanks  to a revolutionary operation involving stem-cell treatment with the  blood from an umbilical cord. As he leaves the hospital with not only a  different blood group but also a different DNA, he describes himself as  the oldest newborn in the world. As Malzieu says himself, 'To have had  my life saved has been the most extraordinary adventure I have ever  had.'\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Quercus Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44896732807397,"sku":"NP9781786480347","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/84f9a742-f0c5-483a-adf7-ab03005a4ab3.jpg?v=1767855331","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/diary-of-a-vampire-in-pyjamas-isbn-9781786480347","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}