The unkindest cut Sarah Anderson’s poignant memoir Halfway to Venus describes life with one arm gone, says Andrew Barrow The author of this fascinating odyssey is better known as the founder of the Travel Bookshop, made famous in the film Notting Hill, than for losing an arm to cancer at the age of 10. Never … Read more
I must declare an interest at the outset. Thirty or so years ago I went out, or walked out (or whatever the phrase is), with the author, until, that is, the night when, for reasons I have never been able to establish, she hit me over the head with a stainless-steel electric kettle. You may … Read more
In 1957, aged 10, Anderson’s childhood was abruptly brought to an end when she was diagnosed as having cancerous lumps in her arm. A prominent surgeon amputated the limb, a procedure that, Anderson later found out, may not have been necessary. Halfway to Venus tells of her struggle to accept the loss of part of … Read more