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Pacemaker
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By: David Toms
Publisher: Banshee Press
Published: September 2022
Categories: Biography
Language: English
Available as: Hardback
On sale at:
ISBN-13: 9781838312657
ASIN: 183831265X

"Every time I write about my heart, I write about walking. Every time I write about walking, I write about my heart." What is it like to be born with a congenital heart defect? What does it mean to live knowing your heart may one day fail you? How do you walk without moving a muscle? In Pacemaker, poet David Toms deftly blends essay, poem and diary in an account of resisting, confronting and living with a rare heart condition. His experience speaks to all of us in its exploration of what it means to live in a fragile yet resilient body, and to keep moving.

Review

“Pacemaker is a rare volume, a deeply considered meditation on the heart and the stride that encompasses so much more besides. It trembles with the truth of a self, articulated with an eloquence seldom encountered. David Toms has written a beautiful, beautiful book – I loved it.” Doireann Ní Ghríofa “A work of intimacy and shimmering precision, Pacemaker is the testament of a unique mind and heart, alive to the world in extraordinary times. Toms’ prose is poetic, vital and inventive, with a lightness that makes it compulsively readable.” Roisin Kiberd “Pacemaker is a moving, beautifully-written memoir about the body’s limits, walking and hope.” Patrick Freyne “A deeply moving personal meditation on walking, health, and wellness, whose themes resonated profoundly with me and remained in my mind long after reading.” Arnold Thomas Fanning “In Pacemaker, everything slows down. Time bends. You lose sight of where you are in the world as you feel your way through David Toms’ lens. This is beautiful, sparse prose – a memoir full of honesty. At times a painful and brutal tale on what it means for someone to make their imprint, the cost of a step, and how to set a new pace within their challenging world. But ultimately, it shows how important the heart is. A powerful book, I loved it.” Elaine Feeney

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