GRIEF WORKS: Stories of Life, Death and Surviving

Samuel describes her patients' stories of loss with great sensitivity and fascinating psychological insight and shows how a simple act like making a meal for someone who is bereaved can make all the difference. The book is organised under when a partner dies, parent, sibling, child and facing your own death and the work we need to do to help us grieve and survive successfully and how friends and family can help. 'The pain was the very thing that eventually forced her to find a way of living with the reality of her beloved daughter's death - and it had a course of its own. Death is the last great taboo; and the consequence of death, grief, is profoundly misunderstood.' We hear stories of those who have experienced great loss, how grief unmasks our greatest fears, strips away our layers of protection, and reveals our innermost selves. Philosophical, practical and profound, there is even a chapter on suicide and facing death ourselves, all the more pertinent now that the Assisted Dying Bill is being considered by Parliament. 296 page Penguin paperback.