Lyrics:

`A long simmering exasperation', that脗麓s what inspired Lionel Shriver to write a devastatingly visceral account of the American health system in her latest novel.

So much for that traverses more than the health system. It脗麓s about whether life can be measured in dollar terms, our discomfort with death, the effect of serious illness on relationships, and that familiar desire we all have to escape when the going gets tough.

In the novel, Shep Knacker must abandon his plan for early retirement and escape to somewhere warmer and cheaper to
fund his wife's medical treatment.

His nest egg is quickly whittled away because his company health insurance only covers part of the cost of her treatment.

This interview was first broadcast on 19 May 2011.