I first met Michael Meguid - a surgeon with a deep interest in nutrition and metabolism - at the World Congress of Gastroenterology in Los Angeles in 1994. By chance, I joined him and several colleagues for dinner, and we crossed paths at various nutrition conferences in the years that followed. Recently, we reconnected via LinkedIn, where a striking post he had written about his childhood and complex relationship with his mother caught my attention. That post led me to discover his memoirs, an extraordinary act of personal storytelling that I found both captivating and courageous.This first volume recounts Michael’s early years, then known as Marwan, growing up across Egypt, Germany, and the UK. Although his family was well-educated and respected - his Egyptian father a scholar of Arabic studies, his German mother educated and cultured - the emotional coldness and repeated displacements in his childhood created a deep sense of isolation. Through each move, each cultural shift, and each change in language and schooling, he was forced to adapt, often without the steady presence or affection of either parent. His one true source of comfort was his German grandmother, whose love and care stand out poignantly in the narrative.The book is beautifully written, yet accessible. It is a compelling portrait of a sensitive boy who learned early to find strength within himself. What struck me most was the reminder that when we meet someone as an accomplished adult, we rarely know the journey that brought them there. The professional façade often conceals a much more vulnerable personal history. Michael has bravely lifted that façade, and I greatly admire him for it.I’m now reading the third book in the series (having already devoured the second, which covers his medical school years). Both are equally rich - honest, emotionally raw, and full of vivid memories of patients, exams, mentors, and lovers – against a backdrop of 1960s London.Anyone who appreciates medical memoirs, stories of resilience, or simply the power of emotional truth-telling will not be disappointed by this series. I eagerly await the next two instalments.
