Yvette Cowles - Belly Dancing and Beating the Odds - How one woman’s passion helped her overcome breast cancer

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Chapter 1: The Seeds of an Obsession Chapter 2: Cancer – Round One! Chapter 3: Escape to France Chapter 4: Cancer – Round Two! Chapter 5: Cancer – Round Three! Chapter 6: Sequins on My Balcony Chapter 7: Mobility Issues Chapter 8: Ten Lessons I’ve Learned (The Hard Way!) Further Information If you liked this, why not try …? Moving Memories eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher

HarperTrueLife

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

77–85 Fulham Palace Road,

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpertrue.com

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by HarperTrueLife 2014

FIRST EDITION

Text © Yvette Cowles 2014

Cover photo © Shutterstock

Cover layout © HarperCollins Publishers 2014

Yvette Cowles asserts the moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at

www.harpercollins.co.uk/green

Ebook Edition © October 2014 ISBN: 9780007585649

Version: 2014-09-17

I would like to dedicate this book:

To anyone whose life has been touched by cancer;

To all my belly dancing buddies for their laughter, friendship and inspiration;

And, of course, to my mother, Mrs Doreen Cowles, ‘my rock’, without whom none of this would have been possible.

‘When it rains it pours. Maybe the art of life is to convert tough times to great experiences; we can choose to hate the rain or dance in it.’

Joan Marques

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Chapter 1: The Seeds of an Obsession Chapter 2: Cancer – Round One! Chapter 3: Escape to France Chapter 4: Cancer – Round Two! Chapter 5: Cancer – Round Three! Chapter 6: Sequins on My Balcony Chapter 7: Mobility Issues Chapter 8: Ten Lessons I’ve Learned (The Hard Way!) Further Information If you liked this, why not try …? Moving Memories eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher

Copyright Copyright Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Chapter 1: The Seeds of an Obsession Chapter 2: Cancer – Round One! Chapter 3: Escape to France Chapter 4: Cancer – Round Two! Chapter 5: Cancer – Round Three! Chapter 6: Sequins on My Balcony Chapter 7: Mobility Issues Chapter 8: Ten Lessons I’ve Learned (The Hard Way!) Further Information If you liked this, why not try …? Moving Memories eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher HarperTrueLife An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB www.harpertrue.com www.harpercollins.co.uk First published by HarperTrueLife 2014 FIRST EDITION Text © Yvette Cowles 2014 Cover photo © Shutterstock Cover layout © HarperCollins Publishers 2014 Yvette Cowles asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at www.harpercollins.co.uk/green Ebook Edition © October 2014 ISBN: 9780007585649 Version: 2014-09-17

Dedication Dedication Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Chapter 1: The Seeds of an Obsession Chapter 2: Cancer – Round One! Chapter 3: Escape to France Chapter 4: Cancer – Round Two! Chapter 5: Cancer – Round Three! Chapter 6: Sequins on My Balcony Chapter 7: Mobility Issues Chapter 8: Ten Lessons I’ve Learned (The Hard Way!) Further Information If you liked this, why not try …? Moving Memories eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher I would like to dedicate this book: To anyone whose life has been touched by cancer; To all my belly dancing buddies for their laughter, friendship and inspiration; And, of course, to my mother, Mrs Doreen Cowles, ‘my rock’, without whom none of this would have been possible.

Epigraph Epigraph Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Chapter 1: The Seeds of an Obsession Chapter 2: Cancer – Round One! Chapter 3: Escape to France Chapter 4: Cancer – Round Two! Chapter 5: Cancer – Round Three! Chapter 6: Sequins on My Balcony Chapter 7: Mobility Issues Chapter 8: Ten Lessons I’ve Learned (The Hard Way!) Further Information If you liked this, why not try …? Moving Memories eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher ‘When it rains it pours. Maybe the art of life is to convert tough times to great experiences; we can choose to hate the rain or dance in it.’ Joan Marques

Chapter 1: The Seeds of an Obsession

Chapter 2: Cancer – Round One!

Chapter 3: Escape to France

Chapter 4: Cancer – Round Two!

Chapter 5: Cancer – Round Three!

Chapter 6: Sequins on My Balcony

Chapter 7: Mobility Issues

Chapter 8: Ten Lessons I’ve Learned (The Hard Way!)

Further Information

If you liked this, why not try …?

Moving Memories eNewsletter

Write for Us

About the Publisher

Little did I know when I first discovered belly dance that it would turn into a life-long obsession, take me to far-flung places, provide me with the best friends I could ever wish for and keep me going through some of the darkest periods of my life. My first encounter with belly dance took place in the exotic surroundings of St Étienne, a town in eastern France best known for coal mining, bicycles and a moderately successful football team.