Being Shot

My ear tracked the sound ... the slow roll of rubber on blue metal, the stealthy crunching undergrowth sound of something prowling.

At the age of seventeen, Gail Bell was shot in the back. Coming home from evening class later than usual one night, she took a short cut through the dark streets of a new estate, unaware she was being watched. When a car began following her, she felt a jolt of fear. Then the car stopped and out of the eerie silence came a cracking sound as a bullet struck her from behind. The car sped away and the shooter was never found.

Being shot is a life-altering experience that cries out for explanation, but for Gail there were bigger mysteries than the identity of the gunman. In this book, she questions the place of guns in our world, and explores the intricate, surprising ways our minds deal with traumatic shock.

Gail Bell, author of the critically acclaimed and prize-winning The Poison Principle, uses the story of her shooting as the basis of this astonishing memoir, taking us into a world where lives can be changed forever by a single gunshot.

Listen to Gail in Conversation with ABC Radio's Richard Fidler here.