Dear Life: A Doctor's Story of Love, Loss and Consolation by Rachel Clarke - Non Fiction - Paperback

Condition: BRAND NEW
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780349143934
Publisher: Abacus
Age Range: Adult

Overview

Dear Life is Rachel Clarke's Sunday Times bestselling memoir about love, loss and what truly matters when time is running out. Drawing on her work as a palliative care doctor and the devastating experience of losing her own father to cancer, Clarke offers a tender, honest and ultimately uplifting exploration of dying well. This paperback edition is a moving, beautifully written addition to any non-fiction shelf, perfect for readers of memoir, medicine and the human condition.

About the Book

In 2017, Rachel Clarke's own training as a palliative care specialist was tested when her beloved GP father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Dear Life is her account of that experience, woven together with stories from her patients and colleagues on the hospice wards where she works. Clarke reveals that even the very best palliative care cannot soften the pain of losing someone you love, yet she argues that a hospice is also a place brimming with more of what matters in life: more love, strength, kindness, joy, tenderness, grace and compassion than most of us could ever imagine. The book asks what it truly means to know your time is running out, contrasting this with how the rest of us drift through life as though we have all the time in the world. Shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize, Dear Life has been widely praised for its unflinching honesty and ability to find hope and connection in the darkest of circumstances. It is a book about doctors and patients, fathers and daughters, and the extraordinary dignity of an ordinary death.

• Sunday Times bestselling memoir from a working NHS doctor
• Shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award
• Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize
• A powerful, compassionate read on grief, love and dying well
• Ideal for fans of medical memoir and narrative non-fiction
• Brand new paperback copy with fast, free UK delivery

About the Author

Before training as a doctor, Rachel Clarke worked as a television journalist and documentary maker. She now specialises in palliative medicine, caring deeply about helping patients live the end of their lives as fully as possible and about the power of human stories to build empathy and inspire change. Clarke is the author of several Sunday Times bestselling books, including Breathtaking, about the NHS during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Your Life in My Hands, her account of life as a junior doctor on the NHS frontline.

Why You'll Love This Memoir

Honest, moving and full of unexpected warmth, Dear Life transforms difficult subject matter into a genuinely life-affirming read. It's a book that stays with you long after the final page, ideal for anyone who loves powerful true stories about love, loss and the medical front line.

Please Note: Cover design and edition may vary slightly from the image shown; this is the current UK paperback edition with UK ISBN 9780349143934.