To Exist As I Am: Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2026

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”An immersive, deeply moving book. Beautiful, powerful, indelible” RACHEL CLARKE, GUARDIAN”Astonishing, important, and truly radical … this book is completely transformative” POLLY MORLAND”Surrendering to what happens to us, to find joy and meaning in spite of it, is the bravest and most wise choice we can make. This book is extraordinary” MIRANDA HARTIt wasn”t a car crash, but there was a collision. He fell from the third floor. At the age of twenty-two, Grace Spence Green”s spine was broken at the fourth thoracic vertebra, and her life changed tracks. One day, she was in hospital supporting patients, the next she was one.To Exist As I Am traces Grace”s journey back to the wards and back to herself – as words like recovery, independence and community, well and unwell, took on new meanings. Through her extraordinary story, she asks how we might fight for change, while joyously embracing life exactly as we are.”Essential reading” XAND VAN TULLEKEN”Inspiring and life-affirming” VIV GROSKOP”It”ll change the way you think about disability. Stop whatever it is that you”re reading and read Grace Spence Green instead” GAVIN FRANCIS”Unputdownable, awe-inspiring, necessary” GABRIEL WESTON”So true and so beautiful” TOM SHAKESPEARE