As Meghan O'Rourke describes in "The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness," regularly there is loneliness in being sick. Yet, for those with interesting and undiscovered circumstances, the actual affirmation of surviving is denied. The persistently sick self is refuted, not by illness but rather by a clinical framework that often dismisses patients' encounters and excuses their declaration.

For Ms. O'Rourke, there was no starting to her ailment, no sharp second when she went from healthy to unwell. "The Invisible Kingdom" is accordingly not a direct account charting the standard stages from disease beginning to clinical intercession to extreme recuperation the signs of numerous disease stories.