When my mother Joan was diagnosed with terminal cancer, my wife Katrin and I took her into our home. For five months, as our life fragmented and turned inward, we fought both to resist and to accept the inevitable. Each of us gave vent to our emotions in different ways, but all three of us kept a diary.

‘Gift of Time’ is the story of those days, in the words of a son, his wife and his mother. Woven together into a meditation on life and death, the book illuminates the courage and dignity of one woman who confronted what we all must face. Threaded through with reflection and guilt, anger and acceptance, the narrative is punctuated by a family wedding and the hope of new life, by old letters and books rediscovered, by the end of winter and the first signs of spring. Above all this slender volume is a celebration of life, which acknowledges that what survives all of us is love.

‘Gift of Time is a wonderful book: a tender, wise and compelling memoir not only about the great mystery of death, but about grief, and love, and the transcending power of the family.’ – Katie Hickman

‘a moving and fearless engagement with a subject that touches us all… beautiful.’ – Financial Times

‘the book is celebratory, signifying the endurance of the human spirit and the capacity for laughter, even as death is around the corner.’ – Catholic Herald

‘moving, exceptional book and highly recommended.’ – The Tablet

‘Gift of Time’ is published by Constable & Robinson.