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Poor Little Sick Girls

A love letter to unacceptable women

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Poor Little Sick Girls

By: Ione Gamble
Narrated by: Ione Gamble
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'Incredible insight with a transgressive, witty, spirit.' COURTNEY LOVE
'The most sensational read of 2022!' GEMMA COLLINS
'A breath of fresh air... I want so many people to read this!' TRAVIS ALABANZA
'Visionary' VIV ALBERTINE
A STYLIST MUST-READ FOR 2022

Wellness is oppressive, self love is a trap, hustling is a health risk and it's all the patriarchy's fault.

Ione Gamble never imagined that entering adulthood would mean being diagnosed with an incurable illness. Watching identity politics become social media fodder from the confines of her sickbed Ione began to pick apart our obsession with self-care, personal branding, productivity and #LivingYourBestLife.

Using her experience with disability to cast a fresh gaze on the particularly peculiar cultural moment in which young women find themselves, Poor Little Sick Girls explores the pressures faced - as well as the power of existing as an unacceptable woman in our current era of empowerment.


Founder of Polyester zine and a host of The Polyester Podcast, Ione has been named one of fifteen coolest young Londoners by The Evening Standard, and a 2019 New Debutante in Tatler Magazine. If you loveTrick Mirror, Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Hood Feminism, you don't want to miss this book.©2022 Ione Gamble Body Positivity Gender Studies Social Sciences Health Mental Health
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Critic reviews

A crystal-clear mirror held up to contemporary feminism . . . Ione Gamble examines feminism's fourth wave and its intersections with the internet and capitalism, to brilliant effect . . .Gamble inventively and accessibly explores the roots of feminism as it exists materially today.
A clear-sighted, critically needed skewering of hustle culture, wellness and modern feminism's blind spots, Ione pulls no punches in Poor Little Sick Girls. Everyone - and I mean everyone - should read this book. (Yomi Adegoke)
A sizzling insight into how tropes about sick women and unacceptable bodies have been constructed throughout history through a cultural and personal lens. Ione writes with warmth, honesty and nuance, inviting the reader into a conversation that has, up until now, been afforded little space for exploration. (Liv Little)
I inhaled Poor Little Sick Girls in one sitting. This book is smart, addictive, wry and insightful. At a time when online discourse feels so muddled, Ione manages to pick through the weeds with characteristic humour and nuance. This is the anti-girlboss Bible and I love it. (Daisy Jones)
A thrilling exploration of the relationships between bodies, abstract forces like language and stereotypes, and the material conditions that shape young adults' lives. Ione Gamble's incisive analysis of the last 15 years of social media, pop culture, and online feminism both illuminate the sources of present-day challenges and model a more liberatory way forward. By tracing the pieces of her self to facets of her environment, she demonstrates how much of a responsibility we have to one another - and that, for all the cynical powers that make our world, we also have the power to remake ourselves. (Tavi Gevinson)
Where so much online is generic and conformist, Ione Gamble's aesthetic and vision is anything but. A style icon and writer who seamlessly blends the esoteric and the obscure with popular culture as well as a commitment to many forms of social justice, her forthcoming book Poor Little Sick Girls is bound to be a treat! (Emma Dabiri)
One of the sharpest, wittiest and most incisive thinkers of her generation. I always want to hear Ione's perspective on feminism, culture, and art - or just about anything (Sirin Kale)
Ione is fiercely unapologetic and a defining voice of our generation. It's especially powerful to see how her own experiences of living as a sick person intersect with her discussions on feminism. This will resonate with anyone who has ever been seen as "unacceptable" and decided to think critically about that. (Cat White)
Poor Little Sick Girls is the most sensational read of 2022! (Gemma Collins)
Incredible insight with a transgressive, witty, spirit (Courtney Love)
All stars
Most relevant
A ground breaking book, bringing together seamlessly, complex subjects that are so relative to our times. I’m sure this will be read for many years to come as a measure of where feminism sits in 2022.

Incredible book

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Loved it! Well worth listening to, it was very insightful. Can’t wait for her next book.

Such a brilliant book!

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Beautifully written and read. I liked the style that is direct and frank. It really helped me put words on my own illness even though I don’t have Crown’s. Thank you so much Ione!

Very useful for women with chronic illness

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Thoroughly enjoyed this read and was pleasantly surprised at how educational it was, whilst still being personal. Ione perfects the balance between giving you a glimpse into her life and explaining the factors that shape that life in the greater context of feminist history.

Nat

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Poor Little Sick Girls is insightful and educational but never boring. The life of a chronically ill working class creative is told through the lens of the internet and modern feminism with a playful tone and unique references. This book will make you think & laugh

Loved it - funny, clever and cool

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