After the Storm

When Marilyn, his wife of 35 years, died from Motor Neurone Disease, Manzoor Ishani found himself facing life alone for the first time in decades.During the pandemic, Brexit and COVID-19 restrictions left him without professional carers or adequate medical support. With no medical training, he became Marilyn's sole carer, providing both the practical nursing and emotional strength that sustained them through the final three years of her illness.Hoping to find peace after her death, Manzoor embarked on a solo cruise along the River Rhine but the experience proved deeply unsettling, as he recounted in A Brutal Disease.Determined not to let that experience define him, he subsequently joined another river cruise for solo travellers on the River Rhone.After the Storm is the story of that remarkable journey. Poignant, perceptive and frequently laugh-out-loud funny, it celebrates the unexpected friendships, eccentric characters and moments of joy that can emerge even after life's darkest storms."Surely life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather one where you skid in sideways, a glass of vintage port in one hand, a mature Stilton in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, 'Wahey, what a ride!"