The diving-bell and the butterfly

One of the most remarkable memoirs ever written. One of the ten books - novels, memoirs and one very unusual biography - that make up our Matchbook Classics' series, a stunningly redesigned collection of some of the best loved titles on our backlist. In December 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor-in-chief of French Elle and the father of two young children, suffered a massive stroke and found himself paralysed and speechless.

But his mind remained as active and alert as it had ever been. Using his only functioning muscle - his left eyelid - he was determined to tell his remarkable story, painstakingly spelling it out letter by letter. The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly records Bauby's lonely existence but also the ability to invent a life for oneself in the most appalling of circumstances.

It one of the most extraordinary books about the triumph of the human spirit ever written.