Christy Brown: The Life that Inspired My Left Foot

Christy Brown: The Life that Inspired My Left Foot by Hambleton, Georgina Louise. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781845963187.

Christy Brown was severely disabled from birth with cerebral palsy and unable to use any part of his body other than his left foot. Doctors said that he was a mental defective and would never be able to lead a normal life; Christy proved them wrong. Written with the help of his surviving family members and artists who knew him well, this first authorized biography tells the astonishing story of Christys struggle with his disability and his development as an artist, author, and poet, beginning with his mother teaching him to read and write using chalk on the worn floor of their small family home. Christys memoir My Left Foot was published in 1954 and later made into an Academy Award–winning film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, while his bestselling novel Down All the Days was described by The Irish Times as "the most important novel since Ulysses." Using previously unpublished letters and poems, this book marks Christy Browns importance as a writer and celebrates his will to succeed.