The heartbreaking story about Bryce Courtenay’s youngest son Damon, who was born a haemophiliac. Not only did he have this terrible disease that made his life so difficult, but he become HIV positive from one of the thousands of transfusions he needed to keep him alive. He died from AIDS on April 1st, at only 23 years old.

This is a terribly sad story, and makes you feel so angry at a health system that allowed this to happen. In the US they had stopped accepting blood donations from the gay community as soon as they realised that AIDS was transferred by blood. In Australia the politicians, not wanting to upset the gay voters, waited another two years before finally testing blood donors, resulting in over 50% of haemophiliacs contracting the disease throughout the 1970’s/1980’s in Australia.

There is a lot of medical information about both Haemophilia and AIDS and the extraordinary cocktail of drugs that Damon had to take to stay alive. I certainly came away from this book more informed about both diseases.

Courtenay is understandably angry about a lot of things, particularly the lack of support from many sectors and individuals in the health system. As a parent, he has my enormous sympathy and empathy. However, on the whole, this book is marred by his voice. He does not come across as a particularly likeable person; I’m not sure whether to commend his honesty in portraying himself, or be outraged by some of his behaviours and views. He often comes across as a bit of a dick, to be honest!

This book would have been more effective if it had been written by Damon’s partner, Celeste, who appears to be an amazing individual - and certainly more likeable than Courtenay.