Was it only two days ago? Seems like two hundred years. I was still in work mode then. Adam O'Neill, investigative journalist, columnist, would-be novelist. Researching my material. Amassing facts. And today? Yep. Sitting here consciously absorbing it, it's a totally different kettle of fish.

Naomi is haunted by a troubling secret. Struggling to come to terms with her husband's death, her biggest dread is finding out that Adam knew of her betrayal. He left behind an intimate diary - but dare she read it? Will it set her mind at rest - or will it destroy the fragile control she has over her grief?

Caught by the unfolding story, Naomi discovers more than she bargained for. Adam writes of his feelings for her, his challenging career, his burning ambition. How one by one his dreams evaporate when he is diagnosed with a degenerative condition, Motor Neurone Disease. How he resolves to mastermind his own exit at a time of his choice... but time is one luxury he can't afford. Soon he won't be able to do it alone. Can he ask a friend, or even a relative, to commit murder?

Adam's fierce determination to retain control of his own body against insurmountable odds fills his journal with a passion and drive that transcend his situation, and transfix the reader. A startlingly clear-sighted and courageous story, this novel explores the collision between uncompromising laws, complex loyalties and human compassion.

You hear of people who know they have x minutes left before a bomb goes off, or a vehicle bursts into flames, or they drown. People say their whole life flashes before them. But what about when the countdown is longer - weeks or months - or even years?

Lively and intensely readable... [Hazel McHaffie] has demonstrated that hard cases make good reading. ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH

This is an immensely sensitive and thoughtful book... an astonishingly authentic-feeling insight with a highly articulate and intelligent central character. SHEILA McLEAN

This heart-rending book about a young journalist who has all to live for but is dying from Motor Neurone Disease is written with a rare understanding of the conflicts and horrors of such a death. Those who read it will understand why the law needs to be changed to allow assisted dying as an option for those whose quality of life has disintegrated and who wish to end their unbearable suffering. LORD JOFFE

'medical-ethical-romance' - an entirely new genre for fiction and an absorbing and fascinating one too. FAY WELDON