The Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Heart, and a Medical Miracle is a 2024 non-fiction book by British writer and doctor Rachel Clarke. It describes the story of a heart transplant between two children, Keira and Max, as well as the staff that treat them and the scientific and medical background which allows the treatment to work. The book won the 2025 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction and was shortlisted for the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.[3][1]
Seven months before the transplant, Max had been admitted to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, after developing a cough and worsening shortness of breath.[5] Max's condition was initially stabilised with milrinone but he then deteriorated, becoming weak and struggling to breathe.[5]
Max, now at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is at the top of the transplant list for Keira's heart, having been waiting for a transplant for 196 days. Within a number of hours, Keira's heart is being flown from Bristol to Newcastle where it is successfully transplanted into Max. The two families later meet and Keira's family use a stethoscope to listen to Keira's heart inside Max's chest.[5]
The book won the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction in 2025.[3]Kavita Puri, the prize's lead judge, commented that "Clarke's writing is authoritative, beautiful and compassionate" and commended the book's research as "meticulous".[3] It was also shortlisted for the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, where it was described as "a testament to compassion for the dying, the many ways we honour our loved ones, and the tenacity of love."[1]
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