#1 International Bestseller
One of LitHub's 10 Best Essay Collections of the Decade

“I Am, I Am, I Am is a gripping and glorious investigation of death that leaves the reader feeling breathless, grateful and fully alive. Maggie O’Farrell is a miracle in every sense. I will never forget this book.”
—Ann Patchett

“I Am, I Am, I Am opens up the vulnerability that many of us experience in life—from the potential of love and connection in childbirth to the certainty of death we all must face. With her elegant prose, O'Farrell moves us through fear to find a world full of wonder and hope. This is a bold, brave, beautiful book about embracing all that life has to offer.”
—Claire Cameron

“I have never read a book about death that has made me feel so alive. A heart-stopping, addictive read.”
—Tracy Chevalier

“By turns chilling, terrifying, deeply moving, funny, recognisable, wild, simple, complicated. A rich celebration.”
—Rachel Joyce

“[I Am, I Am, I Am] is absolutely, in every possible sense of the word, brilliant. It shines with wit and candour and insight. It is spectacularly moving, funny, impeccably controlled, artful and sincere. It’s a gift.”
—Max Porter

“I adored every minute. A triumph.”
—Joanna Cannon

“Extraordinary. A beautiful testament to courage and grace under fire without an ounce of self-pity.”
—Kate Mosse

"Transfixing. . . . A thrumming, piercing reminder of how very closely we all exist alongside what could have happened, but didn't."
—The New York Times Book Review

"A memoir that makes one acutely aware of both the precarious and precious nature of our days on earth."
—Toronto Star

"A uniquely complete portrait of a life fully lived. . . . Its unconventional structure probes deep questions about the human condition, and it establishes a narrative that finds meaning and truth in life's chaos and randomness."
—Entertainment Weekly

"Heartbreaking, life-affirming, beautiful. . . . Taken together, these vignettes make up a sharply intimate portrait of what it is to be a person."
—San Francisco Chronicle

"An extraordinary book, a reminder that while life has its limits and can be unpredictable, we should push against limitations and not give in to fear."
—NPR

"Clever and poignant, thought provoking and deeply affective."
—GOOP

"This intense, unsparing memoir is less about death than about chance, risk and the gift of another day."
—People Magazine

"A pleasure to read. And, indeed, difficult to stop reading. . . . There are echoes of Virginia Woolf not just in the rhythm of the prose but also in its dreamlike immediacy. The effect, ingeniously, is of a life told through the gaps, those near misses, on the eluding of which the rest of life hangs."
—The Wall Street Journal

“O’Farrell emerges as determined, loyal, fierce and stoic; not to be messed with. . . . The message is that we must live in the moment, finding joy and freedom where we can, but O’Farrell writes so convincingly about peril that each episode just serves as another detailed, technicolour reminder that we and, more terrifyingly, our loved ones are only ever one bad decision, faulty choice, or sliver or ill-fortune away from catastrophe. This is a mesmerising read.”
—The Sunday Times

“Astonishing. . . . Taut, beautifully written book.”
—Maclean’s

“Where other writers may be playing with paper, O’Farrell takes up a bow and arrow and aims at the human heart.”
—The Times (UK)

“[A] breathtaking memoir. . . . The book O’Farrell was born to write.”
—Bustle

“We all have them, those experiences that are even more terrifying in retrospect than they were in the moment, but in this riveting memoir, O’Farrell has written hers down. . . . Her stories are harrowing, but the purpose of these essays is not to frighten. It is to affirm.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“[A] gloriously unconventional memoir. Maggie O’Farrell deconstructs our relationship to death by recounting the many times she’s neared it.”
—Southern Living

“Striking and unexpected.”
—Kirkus Reviews