Wise Before Their Time

People with AIDS and HIV talk about their lives

They are young and they have a life-threatening disease…

The year is 1991. Diagnoses of HIV are rising and there is no cure in sight. Coming from all corners of the world, forty-one young men and women talk about living with HIV and AIDS.

They must cope with the enormous stigma, blame and guilt associated with the disease. And there are challenges in telling their parents and partners, trying to keep healthy and looking for work – all while facing an inevitably shortened future.

Yet they remain committed to celebrating the joys of life as much as they can. The book is testimony to the resilience of the human spirit.

First published in 1992, this book tells their unique stories in their own words.

“This collection of true stories is as powerful as any great classic of fiction” Sir Ian McKellen