She had learned from a young age that it’s never like it is in the movies. For one thing, there’s no soundtrack. In a film, if something dramatic happens, or something horrific or frightening or desperately sad, the music will tell you how to feel. It will swell or thrum or thump. Violins might pierce your soul. A bass drum might crash around inside your ribcage. But the thing is, it changes the whole feel of it. You start to imagine that a terrible accident could be an exciting event. A chance to step in and save the day.

Whereas the truth of this type of situation is vastly different. When she was small, maybe seven years old, Mimi was at a restaurant with her family when a teenage girl at another table started choking. Most people will have seen somebody choking on television or in a movie, but they might never have seen it in real life. On the screen, it’s often comical. The person might be gesturing wildly, eyes bulging. Someone else doesn’t get what’s going on. A hero swoops in and expertly performs the Heimlich manoeuvre. A piece of chicken flies across the room. People applaud.

In real life, it doesn’t work that way…

Continue reading the extract here…