Patient: The True Story of a Rare Illness

In the summer of 1992, on the eve of an American tour, Ben Watt, one half of the Billboard-topping pop duo Everything But The Girl, was taken to a London hospital complaining of chest pain. He didn’t leave for two and a half months. Watt had developed a rare life-threatening disease that initially baffled doctors. By the time he was allowed home, his ravaged body was forty-six pounds lighter and he was missing most of his small intestine. Watt injects pathos and humor into his medical nightmare, writing about his childhood, reflecting on his family and on his shared life with band member and partner Tracey Thorn. The result is a provocative and affecting memoir about life, illness, and survival.


“Watt’s vivid, minimal prose unfolds like a page-turning mystery, quietly drawing in the reader.” —Los Angeles Times

“A nearly flawless telling of his unexpected and drawn-out battle with an extremely rare—and nearly fatal—illness.”—The New Yorker

“Told with great wit and without self-pity, Patient is a sobering look at how life can suddenly be transformed into a humbling vaudeville of tests, IV’s, catheters, and bedpans.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Though the details of his illness are terrifying, Watt’s spare, delicate prose and natural humility are sweet enough to make this bitter pill of a book go down like candy.”—Entertainment Weekly

“The reader comes away with an unforgettable understanding of the transformative nature of severe illness. . . . Few have told such a compelling life–story as skillfully as the London–born Watt.”—San Francisco Chronicle