In Your Face

the long version

In early 2006, Lia Mills went to the dentist, worried about a painful lump in her cheek. In Your Face is her account of what happened next: a diagnosis of oral cancer; surgery to remove the tumour and reconstruct her jaw; a broken leg that came about as a result of a bone graft and that went undiagnosed for several weeks; radiotherapy and resulting illness; and, finally, recovery. Based on the journals she kept even when she was feeling her worst, In Your Face gives an extraordinary day-by-day account of what Lia went through. It also observes more beauty and comedy in the world than most of us notice even when we're feeling our best. It is not so much a book about cancer as a book about life. It should be read by anyone who wants to understand illness and recovery, fear and hope and love.