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’m not a transplant patient and I’ve never, very fortunately, had an organ failure or a diseased organ that needed to be replaced so, as with certain other books about disability/illness, I could be considered to be speaking out of turn, but I found this book tender, funny, engaging, and hopeful.

Ailsa Rae is 28 years old and dying of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), which means she was born with a heart that had only 3 chambers instead of the usual, necessary, 4. She’s been in and out of hospital all her life, and although she did manage a relatively normal school career, her university life was severely restricted by her heart condition.

The Curious Heart opens on the eve of Ailsa getting a new heart, something that, unsurprisingly, gives her mixed feelings – after all, if she’s getting a new heart, it means someone else has died because that’s how the heart transplant system works.

This story follows Ailsa’s recovery from the heart transplant, and her first year or so of dealing with the idea that she’s no longer dying – which, if you’ve spent your *entire life* dying, is a big change to come to terms with.

The story jumps between the past, particularly her relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Lennox, a fit and active young man who spends school holiday time travelling, only to catch Hepatitis B while he was travelling, and by the time it was diagnosed, it was too late for anything except a liver transplant, which he died before receiving, and the present, with blogposts from her award-winning blog about life as a person on the heart transplant list.

She wins the award soon after getting the new heart (which she names Apple), and soon afterwards makes the long trip from Scotland to London to give a radio interview alongside actor Seb Morley – of whom, she’s never heard because when you might die at any time, getting into TV shows isn’t something you want to do – books and movies are more finite than TV shows. Seb’s had a corneal transplant after getting an eye infection that was initially misdiagnosed (and no, this book’s NOT about bashing the NHS). The radio interviewer is a bit of a cow, and Seb leaves a comment on Ailsa’s blog by way of being supportive, and they strike up a friendship via email that slowly, gradually, develops into a romantic and sexual relationship as Ailsa grows more confident about having a functioning heart and in her healing body.

The story had an unexpected (to me, at least) Shakespearean flavour as Seb – who cannot do any TV or film work because of his cornea transplant (the stitches in his eye prevent close ups, and his light sensitivity also mean he wears sunglasses, even indoors, for some months after the transplant) – is offered the part of Romeo for an Edinburgh Fringe production. Seb talks Ailsa into helping him to learn his part before rehearsals start, and she spends a couple of weeks in London, staying in the flat of a friend of Seb, and going over to his flat every day to go over his lines.

Ailsa learns to live on her own (she’s only ever lived with her mother – her father walked out shortly after she was born), to love again after losing Lennox, to tango (part of her new post-heart exercise regime), and to make plans for the future, which includes finding a job and studying Law. She also learns who Ailsa-the-well is after a lifetime of being Ailsa-the-dying.

I’d previously read Butland’s Lost for Words, and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I wasn’t surprised to find The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae was also engaging, enjoyable, and full of characters in whom I could believe.