JIM

Imagine being hungry every second of your life. And knowing that no meal will ever make it stop.

Jim is fourteen, and this is his reality.

He was born with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic condition that disrupts the brain's ability to recognise fullness. His body keeps asking for food. It is not a lack of willpower. It is how his brain is wired.

In a gym in Tallaght, on the edge of Dublin, a trainer called Mike has never heard of Prader-Willi syndrome. He sees a boy who cannot climb a thirty-centimetre step, and he takes him on anyway.

What follows changes Jim: his strength, his body, the way he moves through the world. Videos of his training spread across social media and reach people far beyond Ireland. But a video lasts a few seconds. Behind it there is a mother, Emma, who fights every day to protect her son from a hunger he cannot control. A father who makes the one-hour trip to the gym twice a week. A brother and a sister growing up alongside him. And a boy who keeps showing up.

This is not the story of a cure. Prader-Willi syndrome does not go away. JIM: The Boy Behind the Smile is the story of a boy who cannot change the hunger that stays with him, but can learn to change almost everything around it.

Told with restraint and without sentimentality, this book is based on a true story and was written in collaboration with Jim's family.

For parents and carers of children with rare conditions, readers of narrative non-fiction about family and disability, and anyone who has watched Jim's videos and wondered about the life behind them.

90% of the author's royalties support Jim on his journey. Every copy is a step alongside him.