Patient 1

Insightful, frank and often moving… Though there is an underlying note of deep sadness, more often she writes with humour, a dose of self mockery and no small amount of courage. – Stephanie Merritt * Observer *
[An] unsparing memoir… but Raven does much more than write an illness memoir… Raven explains in her introduction that Huntington’s is not a linear disease but is experienced rather as a series of traumatic random-seeming assaults… it is that formless inevitability…that Raven enacts so powerfully here. – Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *
A phenomenal achievement… [it] chronicles her journey into her illness in a way that is truthful, traumatic and brave. * The Times *
Brutally candid… [a] devastating but remarkable testament of self-preservation. – Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller, Editor’s Choice *
Charlotte Raven’s Patient 1 is brilliant, terrifying, heart-breaking and laceratingly honest. She has the unflinching, unsentimental clarity of Rachel Cusk and the tender humour of John Bayley - but her style is utterly unique. – Peter Bradshaw

A searingly honest and important read. With neither pity nor sentimentality, Charlotte Raven captures the experience of living while losing one’s mind. I cannot forget her words.

This is a deeply moving and profound memoir about facing the worst in life - and continuing. Everyone should read it.

Patient 1 charts Charlotte Raven’s bittersweet journey from her charmed, hedonist youth to an embattled future. Her charismatic character and scandalous humour is there on the page despite the creeping privations of Huntington’s. With the kind of self-knowledge only accessible through suffering, she still manages to write powerfully and with beauty.

Charlotte Raven was a celebrated journalist and writer. Her columns and articles appeared frequently in the Guardian and New Statesman. She was a contributor to the Modern Review, and editor of the relaunched version in 1997. Her memoir, Patient 1, was published in 2021. She died in 2025.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.