Grief Biography

After a near fatal stroke in 1995, Robert McCrum has gained an intimate understanding of his own mortality. Twenty-two years on, his friends have joined him in experiencing Prospero's 'every third thought' of death as a dominating theme of life. McCrum asks: can we make peace with what Freud calls 'the necessity of dying'? Searching for answers leads him to brain surgeons, psychologists, cancer patients and writers for advice and wisdom.

In 2015 former England football star Rio Ferdinand suddenly and tragically lost his wife and soul mate, Rebecca, age 34, to cancer. It was a profound shock, and Rio found himself struggling to cope not just with the pain of his grief but also with his new role as both mum and dad to their three young children. Rio's BBC1 documentary Being Mum and Dad touched everyone who watched it and won huge praise for the honesty and bravery he showed in talking about his emotions and experiences.

In the mid 1980s, Canada's worst public health disaster was unfolding. Catastrophic mismanagement of the country's blood supply allowed contaminated blood to be knowingly distributed, infecting close to two thousand Canadians with HIV. Among them was Melanie Brooks's surgeon father who, after receiving a blood transfusion during open-heart surgery in 1985, learned he was HIV positive. At a time when HIV/AIDS was misunderstood and public perception was shaped by fear, prejudice, and homophobia, victims of the disease faced ostracism and persecution. Wanting to protect his family from this stigma, Melanie's father decided his illness would be a secret they'd all keep.

Mesmerized, at times unnerved, by his 97-year-old father's nearly superhuman vitality and optimism, David Shields undertakes an investigation of the human physical condition. The result is this exhilarating book - both a personal meditation on mortality and an exploration of flesh-and-blood existence from crib to oblivion. It's an exploration that paradoxically prompts a renewed and profound appreciation of life.

My Disappearing Mother: A Memoir of Magic and Loss is far more than a memoir on the devastation that comes with dementia, a cognitive impairment that affects fifty-five million people worldwide. Finnamore beautifully chronicles her mother's rich and varied life journey, from her birth in Puerto Rico during the height of the Depression to ferrying to the United States, in hopes of a better life. On U.S. soil, her mother, Bunny, started working as a performer for enlisted men, then became a secretary, and eventually a professional clairvoyant.

On a February day in 2008, Forrest Church sent a letter to the members of his congregation, informing them that he had terminal cancer; his life would now be measured in months, not years. In that remarkable letter, he wrote: "In more than one respect, I feel very lucky." He went on to promise that he would sum up his thoughts on the topics that had been so pervasive in his work-love and death-in a final book.

Este libro nos invita a reflexionar sobre la paradoja entre el duelo que no se cierra y el volver a sonreír a medida que la herida cicatriza. Luego de que en su anterior obra nos brindara su testimonio sobre las capacidades diferentes de su hija y del duelo por su pérdida a los 26 años, Laura nos plantea ahora, el después de esa experiencia. El texto llevará al lector a transitar un camino que lo transportará desde un sentimiento de vacío hacia un proyecto de vida basado en el amor. De la desesperanza y la impotencia, a la transformación del dolor en amor.

I landed in this place six years ago in a welter of panic, pain and instinct. I'd been in fight-or-flight mode for twelve months, wanting only to keep on flying—or fleeing. I brought almost nothing of my previous life. Grief had made me ruthless; I threw and threw. (And yes, I knew how appalled you'd have been, Pete.) My father implored me to stay with the familiar. Constants, he said, would give me scaffolding. Decades ago, when his second wife, my stepmother, died suddenly, habits were his protection and rituals his comfort—along with a packet or two of cigarettes a day.

What if you came home one day and found your husband dead in his favorite chair? This grief memoir explores the author’s experience of the unexpected death of her husband from sudden cardiac arrest a mere three months after his doctors had pronounced him hale and healthy. The author shares her experiences in the immediate aftermath of the abrupt shock of discovery, reminisces about the details of the couple’s late-in-life courtship and marriage, and imparts other experiences she has had along the grieving road in the years since becoming a widow.

On November 13, 2015, Antoine Leiris’s wife, Hélène Muyal-Leiris, was killed by terrorists while attending a rock concert at the Bataclan Theater in Paris, in the deadliest attack on France since World War II. Three days later, Leiris wrote an open letter addressed directly to his wife’s killers, which he posted on Facebook. He refused to be cowed or to let his 17-month-old son’s life be defined by Hélène’s murder. He refused to let the killers have their way: “For as long as he lives, this little boy will insult you with his happiness and freedom.”

As young adults, John and Kara—father and daughter—had much in common. Avid sports lovers. Life of the party. Abiding faith in God. And a diagnosis that blindsided and benched them: aggressive, terminal cancer. John and Kara battled their diseases with cutting-edge medical treatments. Both had countless prayers lifted on their behalf. Both believed in a powerful, loving God who could heal. Yet one lived and one died. How can we accept both endings as from the hand of God? Did one person have greater favor? Deeper faith?

When city girl Theresa falls madly in love with commercial fisherman Captain Bart, she trades her urban lifestyle for a grueling job as crew on his ninety-two-foot-tuna boat in the North Pacific Ocean. During their three-month journey, she battles waves the size of four-story buildings in hurricane-force winds and almost loses her mind but wins the respect of the Hyenas—an elite group of fishermen who become her extended family.

A chilling behind-bars encounter with a killer unfolds. Step into the heart-wrenching world of his victim’s grieving mother. Can the unforgivable be forgiven? As Tammy Horvath grapples with the weight of depression following her profound loss, she discovers that no amount of exercise or travel can completely mend her shattered soul. The quest for genuine healing takes a courageous turn as she confronts the murderer, unraveling the haunting mysteries behind Luke’s tragic death.

Embark on a life-changing encounter as you journey through the remarkable life and death of an accomplished naval flight officer and his grieving widow’s path from unimaginable heartache to unstoppable hope. With captivating novel-like and highly accurate military scenes, excerpts of touching long-distance love letters, and raw, unfiltered emotions, Providing Promise isn’t just another memoir—it is a lifeline. Experience your own inner healing and uncover your God-given destiny as you walk alongside one who has seen firsthand how God can turn tragedy into triumph.

"Ein paar Jahre werden Sie schon noch leben!" - wie der Autor mit dieser Diagnose umging Im Alter von 26 Jahren wurde Helmut Retzl mit einer schockierenden Diagnose konfrontiert, die ihn aus seinen Lebensträumen riss: ein schwerer Fall von Multipler Sklerose - keine Chance auf Heilung und nur mehr wenig Lebenszeit. Zum ersten Mal traf Helmut Retzl auf das Phänomen "unheilbar". Heute ist der Autor 57 und fühlt sich wie neugeboren. Helmut Retzl ist kein Vertreter einer neuen Heilslehre und kein Wunderguru, doch er hat nie aufgegeben und sich nie aufgeben lassen.

My name is Ashlee. I am a victim of murder. Through a series of events and by two shots of a gun, I was made a widow at the age of 28, with my youngest child just six weeks old. I am a victim of infidelity. I have felt unlovable. I have felt rejected. I have had days in my life when I wasn’t sure if I would ever take a breath again, let alone be able to raise my five children by myself. I have lived in fear. I have felt much heartache. I have felt truly broken to my core. I have carried some heavy burdens...not only of my own, but burdens put upon my shoulders by the death of my husband.

In 2021, Charlie Bird was diagnosed with motor neurone disease—a man whose voice was so synonymous with his career faced losing it completely. Yet knowing he had just a short time left with family and friends, what emerged was a great sense of resilience and motivation to take advantage of every moment. Here, Charlie reflects on his life and phenomenal broadcast career through the lens of his diagnosis, as he ponders the big questions and takes stock of the small moments that we so often overlook.

Reality, as Eileen Robertson Hamra perceived it, was instantly altered the moment authorities confirmed that the plane her husband was piloting had crashed and he had not survived. With her three young children, Eileen entered the desolate world of grief and loss, but where she arrived was nothing short of miraculous. Between the valleys of grief and the peaks of hope, she discovered that keeping promises to the dead is a lifelong act, and honoring one love does not mean forgoing the freedom and joy that is found in reopening your heart.

What happens when the life you’ve always dreamed of disappears in the blink of an eye? For Inez Ribustello, that day came twenty years ago on September 11th, 2001. Ribustello grew up in the small town of Tarboro, North Carolina but found her way to The Big Apple to attend culinary school in 1998. In New York City, her love for wine, food, often enjoying both at the same time, was born. She knew that working at Windows on the World - on the top floor of the Twin Towers - was where she was meant to be.

"Siempre he pensado que la vida es amor y dolor, pero que tenemos la opción de transformar ese dolor para evitar quedar anclados en el sufrimiento, que es inútil. El autor de este audiolibro, un héroe anónimo, nos demuestra que con una actitud positiva, sea cual sea el desenlace, y regalando sonrisas - aunque en el fondo no se tengan suficientes motivos para sonreír -, se atraviesan los momentos más duros de la vida de una forma mucho más sana y llevadera.