Like a third of the UK population, Julia has a chronic pain condition. According to her doctors, it can't be cured. She doesn't believe them. She does believe in miracles, though. It's just a question of tracking one down. Julia's search for a cure takes her on a global quest, exploring the boundaries between science, psychology and faith with practitioners on the fringes of conventional, traditional and alternative medicine. Raising vital questions about the modern medical system, Heal Me is also a story about identity in a system skewed against female patients, and the struggle to retain a sense of self under the medical gaze.

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A timely, worrying and extremely important book

"Truly fascinating . . . a searingly honest first-hand account of Buckley's journey, both spiritual and physical, and an insightful, deeply researched story of pain from the multiple perspectives of medical science, psychology and faith. An absolute must-read on the subject, what's laid bare here about our understanding of and attitudes to chronic pain is alternatively sobering and inflammatory" - INDEPENDENT

"An inspiring story about living with pain, and not being believed and never giving up" - SUN

"Buckley's account of her illness is elegant, with apposite literary references. As a welcome bonus, she is bitingly funny in her descriptions of the shortcomings of the medical profession, as well as her unnerving encounters with alternative therapists. Most importantly, she highlights the alarming extent of chronic pain in the UK and the medical establishment's failure to tackle it head on; according to the British Medical Journal, it affects a third of us. Nevertheless, the message from her story is uplifting: however awful your circumstances, there's always hope" - i paper

"This book shouldn't be entertaining and yet, as Buckley recounts her global odyssey in search of a miracle, her rollercoaster journey turns out to be as compulsive as any thriller ... her brave book is a reminder to never give up hope" - THE LADY

"Buckley's eloquently angry Heal Me: In Search of a Cure homes in on the insidious gender politics that often determine the treatment of female patients" - TLS