Coping with / advice about death and bereavement Books

Book SynopsisAccording to the American Cancer Society, more than one million people get cancer in the United States each year. The diagnosis is often a major physical, emotional, social, and spiritual blow, capable of shaking patients to their core. This empathetic guide coauthored by cancer survivor Dr. Alan Wolfelt helps individuals understand and cope with the many difficult thoughts and feelings to which a cancer diagnosis can give rise, assisting them as they find ways to experience peace and joy throughout their journey. Among the 100 ideas for surviving and thriving in this book are those that explain the basic principles of grief and mourning and how they apply to a life-altering, life-threatening, or terminal medical diagnosis. Others offer instantaneous, in-the-moment suggestions of things that cancer patients can do immediately in order to express their grief and live with meaning in each moment. This book is a calming companion for people battling cancer and their loved ones.

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Book SynopsisPractical methods for healing after the loss of a member of the military When a loved one is killed in the line of duty, this book affirms that survivors’ grief is shaped by the unique circumstances of the death. Because military deaths are almost always sudden and violent, the traumatic nature of the loss creates a two-part grief—one focused on the manner in which the person died, the other focused on the long-term repercussions of life without this special person. This guide acknowledges the unique mixture of sadness, pride, anger, and blame that often characterizes grief after a military death, including in the event of a military suicide, and offers ideas for constructively expressing thoughts and feelings. Anyone whose life has been touched by a military death will find compassionate understanding and healing guidance in the pages of this handbook.

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Book SynopsisFor most of us, life is way too hectic. We feel scattered and distracted. We’re busy rushing from one required activity to the next, and when we have a few moments of downtime, we’re often glued to our electronics. Is this what life is really all about? Learn to slow down and live more mindfully with this daily companion. In one brief entry for each day of the calendar year, counselor Dr. Alan Wolfelt offers small, day-at-a-time doses of wisdom and practical guidance. Each entry includes an inspiring or soothing quote followed by a short discussion of the day’s theme as well as a succinct mantra to return to throughout the day. In just a few minutes a day, this little gem of a book will teach you to live every moment from a place of peace, purpose, and gratitude. Living in the now is a habit you can cultivate. Let’s get started.

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Book SynopsisChronic illness is a type of loss. Depending on your condition and its course, you may be confronted with physical limitations, financial struggles, relationship challenges, and much more. Your hoped-for future may feel stolen from you. In addition to good physical care, acknowledging and working through your normal, necessary grief along the way is essential to living well with chronic illness. Mourning is important self-care. The 100 tips, affirmations, and simple activities in this book will help you attune to and express your feelings each day. They will support you in living your best life physically, cognitively, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. To mourn well is to clear the way for living well. Let’s get started.

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Book SynopsisLoss is always hard, but when someone you love dies of an accidental drug overdose, the grief that follows can be especially painful and challenging. Readers will learn ideas for coping in the early days after the tragic death, as well as ways to transcend the stigma associated with overdose deaths. The book also explores common thoughts and feelings, the six needs of mourning, self-care essentials, finding hope, and more. Understanding Your Grief After A Drug-Overdose Death is part of Companion Press’s Words of Hope and Healing series—empathetic books on grief and other loss-related topics, with just the right amount of education and support.

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Book SynopsisGrief overload is what you feel when you experience too many significant losses all at once, in a relatively short period of time, or cumulatively. In addition to the deaths of loved ones, such losses can also include divorce, estrangement, illness, relocation, job changes, and more. Our minds and hearts have enough trouble coping with a single loss, so when the losses pile up, the grief often seems especially chaotic and defeating. The good news is that through intentional, active mourning, you can and will find your way back to hope and healing. This compassionate guide will show you how.

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Book SynopsisWhen you want to have a baby but are struggling with fertility challenges, it’s normal to experience a range and mixture of ever-changing feelings. These feelings are a natural and necessary form of grief. Whether you continue to hope to give birth or you’ve stopped pursuing pregnancy, this compassionate guide will help you affirm and express your feelings about infertility. Tips for both women and men are included.

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Book SynopsisAfter a significant loss, grief is an everyday experience. Bit by bit, these one-page-a-day readings will help you feel supported and muster the courage and hope you need to make it through the day. Whether you’re choosing this book as a follow-up to Understanding Your Grief or as a way to engage with the teachings in a different format, you’ll find a combination of classic content mixed with new ideas and insights. Reading just one page each day will help you sustain hope and heal your heart.

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Book SynopsisIf someone you love died by homicide, your grief is naturally traumatic and complicated. Not only might your grief journey be intertwined with painful criminal justice proceedings, you may also struggle with understandably intense rage, regret, and despair. It’s natural for homicide survivors to focus on the particular circumstances of the death as well. Whether your loved one’s death was caused by murder or manslaughter, this compassionate guide will help you understand and cope with your difficult grief. It offers suggestions for reconciling yourself to the death on your own terms and finding healing ways for you and your family to mourn. After a homicide death, there is help for those left behind, and there is hope. This book will help see you through.

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Book SynopsisThis companion workbook to the second edition of Dr. Wolfelt’s bestseller Understanding Your Grief helps you explore the many facets of your grief through guided journaling. After you read a section in Understanding Your Grief, the journal asks you questions about what you’ve just read. It invites you to consider, clarify, and jot down your thoughts and feelings. A good grief journal is a safe place of solace—somewhere you can express yourself no matter what you are experiencing. If you’re grieving a death or a significant loss of any kind, this journal and its companion text will help you understand and embrace your grief, actively mourn, and move toward healing. You’ll find that the journal can also be used to help honor the person who died and/or work through any lingering relationship issues. As you express your emotions in this journal, you will feel them beginning to soften as well as become more integrated into your ongoing life. Write as much as or as little as you’d like. Even just a little engagement with this journal will help you befriend your grief and give you healing momentum.

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Book SynopsisWhen we’re grieving the death of someone loved, we need the support and compassion of our fellow human beings. Grief support groups provide a wonderful opportunity for this very healing kind of support. This book is for professional or lay caregivers who want to start and lead an effective grief support group for adults. It explains how to get a group started and how to keep it running smoothly once it’s underway. The group leader’s roles and responsibilities are explored in detail, including communication skills, trust building, handling problems, and more. This Guide also includes twelve meeting plans that interface with the second editions of Understanding Your Grief and The Understanding Your Grief Journal. Each week group members read a chapter in the main text, complete a chapter in the journal, and come to group ready for you to guide them through an exploration of the content. Meeting plans include suggestions for how to open each session as well as engaging exercises and activities. A Certificate of Completion you can photocopy and give to group members in the final meeting is provided.

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Book SynopsisAnger in grief is natural. It’s normal to feel anger and other explosive emotions such as hate, blame, terror, resentment, rage, and jealousy after the death of someone you love or another significant life loss. Yet it’s challenging to experience these feelings day after day. And it can be hard knowing what to do about them. Allowing them to seethe and build up inside you is not the answer. Neither is lashing out at people who care about you. This book will show you how to understand and express your anger and other explosive emotions in restorative ways. Learning to be with your anger and soothe it will not only help you on your healing journey in grief, it will also give you tools for living the remainder of your days with less suffering and more joy. If you are angry, let us begin.

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Book SynopsisWe don't only experience grief after a loss—we often experience it before. If someone we love is seriously ill, or if we're concerned about upcoming hardships of any kind, we naturally begin to grieve right now. This process of anticipatory grief is normal, but it can also be confusing and painful. Life is change, and change is hard. This book will help see you through.

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Book SynopsisBased on Dr. Wolfelt's unique and highly regarded philosophy of "companioning" versus treating mourners, this self-care guide for professional and lay grief caregivers emphasizes the importance of taking good care of oneself as a precursor to taking good care of others. Bereavement care is draining work, and remaining empathetic to the painful struggles of mourners, death, and dying, day in and day out, makes caregivers highly susceptible to burnout. This book demonstrates how caring for oneself first allows one to be a more effective caregiver to others. Through the advice, suggestions, and practices directed specifically to caregiving situations and needs, caregivers will learn not to lose sight of caring for themselves as they care for others.

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Book SynopsisAfter the death of someone close to you, you enter a time of deep grief. And if you use this time to actively, intentionally engage with your grief, you find helpful ways to express it. You do the work of mourning. You share it outside yourself—in doses and over time—so that you begin to integrate your loss into your ongoing life. In other words, you mourn well so that you can heal well—and live and love well again. Eventually you understand that while your grief is never “over,” it is reconciled. It is an integrated part of your life story. Your love is not “over,” either, of course. You feel it in the present just as much as you did in the past. So after your time of deep grief has passed, how do you continue to love and honor the special person who died even as you fully live your own remaining precious days here on earth? In response to this common challenge, this book by one of the world’s most beloved grief counselors proposes a way of being Dr. Wolfelt calls “cherishing.” To cherish means to protect and care for lovingly, and to hold dear. The mindset, suggestions, and practices in this resource will help you build cherishing into your daily routines.

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Book SynopsisOn the day her first book came out—a new translation of Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross—Mirabai Starr’s daughter, Jenny, was killed in a car accident. "My spiritual life began the day my daughter died," writes Mirabai. Even with decades of spiritual practice and a deep immersion in the greatest mystical texts, she found herself utterly unprepared for "my most powerful catalyst for transformation, my fiercest and most compassionate teacher." With Caravan of No Despair, Mirabai shares an irreverent, uplifting, and intimate memoir of her extraordinary life journey. Through the many twists and turns of her life—including a tangled relationship with a charlatan-guru, her unexpected connection with the great Christian mystics, and the loss of her daughter—Mirabai finds the courage to remain open and defenseless before the mystery of the divine. "Tragedy and trauma are not guarantees for a transformational spiritual experience," writes Mirabai Starr, "but they are opportunities. They are invitations to sit in the fire and allow it to transfigure us."

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Book SynopsisWhen the New York Times ran Patrick O’Malley’s story about the loss of his infant son—and how his inability to "move on" challenged everything he was taught as a psychotherapist—it inspired an unprecedented flood of gratitude from readers. What he shared was a truth that many have felt but rarely acknowledged by the professionals they turn to: that our grief is not a mental illness to be cured, but part of the abiding connection with the one we’ve lost. Illuminated by O’Malley’s own story and those of many clients that he’s supported, readers learn how the familiar "stages of grief" too often mislabel our sorrow as a disorder, press us to "get over it," and amplify our suffering with shame and guilt when we do not achieve "closure" in due course. "Sadness, regret, confusion, yearning—all the experiences of grief—are a part of the narrative of love," reflects O’Malley. Here, with uncommon sensitivity and support, he invites us to explore grief not as a process of recovery, but as the ongoing narrative of our relationship with the one we’ve lost—to be fully felt, told, and woven into our lives. For those in bereavement and anyone supporting those who are, Getting Grief Right offers an uncommonly empathetic guide to opening to our sorrow as the full expression of our love.

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Book SynopsisFor Will Boast, what looked like the end turned out to be a new beginning. After losing his mother and only brother, twenty-four-year-old Boast finds himself absolutely alone when his father dies of alcoholism. Numbly settling the matters of his father’s estate, Boast stumbles upon documents revealing a closely guarded secret his father had meant to keep: he’d had another family entirely, a wife and two sons. Setting out to find his half-brothers, Boast struggles to reconcile their family history with his own and to begin a chapter of his life he never imagined. “Riveting, soulful, and courageously told” (Maggie Shipstead), Epilogue is the stunning account of a young man’s journey through grief in search of a new, unexpected love.Trade Review"Wise, charming and deeply moving." -- Leslie Jamison - The New York Times Book Review"It is during these unspoken moments that the author deftly captures the fleeting intimacy between father and son…The power of Epilogue comes in Boast’s brave and candid recounting of his losses—and how this accumulated grief reshapes the author and his beliefs of what can make up a family." -- S. Kirk Walsh - San Francisco Chronicle"Boast, an accomplished fiction writer and essayist, has composed a moving, elegantly contrapuntal narrative about coming to terms with his families—the one he lost, and the one that welcomed him with open arms." -- Ben Dickinson - Elle"Excellent. . . . [A] finely wrought, wrenching yet lyrical study of a family that lives on past its seeming end." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review"This remarkable memoir is written with extraordinary care, intelligence, and honesty. Though the material is powerful to begin with, what makes it work so well is its authorial voice: a rare combination of rawness and restraint, probing and delicacy, self-laceration and tenderness toward others. In short, it's fully alive." -- Phillip Lopate, author of Portrait Inside My Head"Don't let the title of Will Boast’s magnificent memoir fool you—Epilogue is about beginnings as much as endings, discovering as much as losing family. It's honest, heartbreaking, gorgeously written, and hands down the most moving book I've read so far this year." -- Anthony Marra, author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena"A brave, brilliant, masterfully crafted story about an ordinary family's extraordinary collision of tragedies and secrets. Will Boast's efforts to write his family’s epilogue—to forge a space for his own life through understanding theirs—make for one of the most moving and transformative reading experiences I've had. I won't ever forget it." -- Eleanor Henderson, author of Ten Thousand Saints"Riveting, soulful, and courageously told, Will Boast's memoir is a gorgeous meditation on grief and family and also a deeply personal account of his coming of age under a relentless bombardment of tragedies and revelations. Never has a story of loss been so full of life." -- Maggie Shipstead, author of the national bestseller Seating Arrangements"The story of Epilogue would be compelling enough: a young man loses one family and discovers another. In Will Boast's expert hands, it becomes a plangent and penetrating meditation on grief, the weight of secrets, and the redemptive power of family. Clear-eyed, unsentimental, and heartbreaking, this book is a gift to its reader." -- Justin St Germain, author of Son of a Gun: A Memoir"Elegiac and unsentimental, Epilogue is a moving meditation on the enduring mysteries of family, the surprising possibilities of loss, and the deep resilience of an individual. With piercing clarity and wisdom, Will Boast reveals the unexpected within the unthinkable." -- Jennifer duBois, author of Cartwheel"Epilogue is a soulful and profoundly moving portrait of family and loss, of mystery and grief. The story unfolds and builds and doubles back on itself like the notes and riffs in a free jazz performance, and Will Boast is a virtuoso, a masterful writer and storyteller." -- Chad Simpson, author of Tell Everyone I Said Hi"What if you lost your family, only to discover you had another? Will Boast's unforgettable memoir explores this seemingly impossible question in a straightforward yet lyrical language that infuses these pages with both wistfulness and hope." -- Lysley Tenorio, author of Monstress"With a father-son relationship as complex and tortured as that in Knausgaard's My Struggle—and an obsession with music to boot—Boast takes his raw emotional content and faces it ruthlessly, translating his extraordinary experiences to the page with a poet's singular vision and restrained lyricism. Boast's story will break your heart; his prose will make it sing." -- Jamie Quatro, author of I Want to Show You More"[S]pellbinding… [Boast’s] affecting journey, related without sentimentality or self-pity, is not so much about his need for family as it is a candid reflection on loneliness and personal identity." -- Jonathan Fullmer - Booklist

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Book SynopsisIt was a warm April in Pleasant Valley when Margaret Korda, normally a fearless horsewoman, dropped her horsewhip while she was riding. Such a mild slip was easy to ignore, but when other troubling symptoms accumulated, she confided to her husband, “Michael, I think something serious is wrong with me.” Within a few rapid weeks, the fiercely independent, former fashion model was diagnosed with brain cancer, while Michael, once reliant on her steeliness, became her caregiver, deciphering bewildering medical reports and packing her beloved toiletries for the hospital. An operation performed by a renowned surgeon allowed Margaret to ride her favorite competition horse Logan go Bragh a few more times, but Margaret’s tumors quickly returned—leaving her to grapple with the reality of impending death. In rapturous prose, Korda, a modern- day Orpheus, braids her heroic story with heartrending details of their final year together. Passing, a tender memoir, is a testament to the transcendent possibilities of love.Trade Review"[Michael Korda] delivers a heartfelt look at his wife, Margaret... This intimate memoir is both a tribute to their 45-year marriage... and an account of how looking ‘after someone who is dying gradually fills one’s life to the exclusion of everything else’... Lovingly told, Korda’s memoir movingly captures the complexities of dealing with the death of a loved one." -- Publishers Weekly ("Books of the Week")"Anyone who has ever cared for a loved one at the end of life will identify with Korda’s escalating feelings of despair and uselessness as he tries to save his wife from a disease with no rescue. His book, and his life, illustrate the essential truth that no matter our circumstances, we will one day die. His unsparing account nudges us to reconsider life’s trivial grievances until we do." -- Connie Schultz, Washington Post"Written in plain, straightforward prose, Passing is the memoir of a man who stuffs himself with facts and information about brain tumors and cancer in hopes that knowledge will help him get through the anguish of watching his beautiful wife die.... Korda’s book keeps you reading because of the graceful, understated way he conveys his anguish, his love and his admiration for his spirited wife.... Passing is a moving book." -- Laurie Hertzel, Minneapolis Star Tribune"Passing, the story of a woman stricken with cancer and the husband who loved her, is an unforgettable tribute to the raw emotions that evolve from shock to acceptance." -- Mary Higgins Clark"A sensitive and absorbing chronicle of his wife's death from cancer a year after she was diagnosed with a brain tumor... Joining a growing genre about death and dying that includes Sherwin Nuland's How We Die and Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, Korda's memoir is both a celebration of his 45-year marriage to his 'lover, companion, and best friend' and a clear-eyed account of the benefits and limits of medical intervention... A compassionate chronicle of a couple's last year." -- Kirkus Reviews"This harrowing account of Margaret Korda’s death is also a deeply moving testimonial to the beauty and strength of a remarkable marriage. I am grateful to Michael for this honest and painful book that cannot have been easy to write." -- Robert Gottlieb"In this harrowing, engrossing, meticulous account of his wife’s deterioration from cancer, Michael Korda presents both the medical and the psychic details of dying. His writing is disciplined and unsentimental, but deeply evocative and ultimately very generous. He opens the private world of the extremely private woman to whom he was married, fully capturing her spirit, their marriage, and her untimely demise." -- Andrew Solomon"Michael Korda’s Passing is a singular account of his wife’s gallant battle against a relentless cancer and a description of that tragic journey. T.S. Eliot wrote, ‘In my end is my beginning... Or let us hope.' " -- Larry McMurtry

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Book SynopsisLife is short, and it can be sweet. Contemplating death is looking into a mirror that allows us to see these simple facts clearly, as if for the first time. We have every reason to believe that we have but one life to live—and no good reasons to believe otherwise—and death marks the termination of each life. Examining this reality opens doors to understanding ourselves, each other, connection, love, and life itself in an entirely new way. Life in Light of Death offers a short exploration of the sweetness and opportunity available to those who understand and embrace this fact. By looking at life as reflected by death, we can see what really matters and how best to live.Trade Review"What is the purpose of life? It isn't Jesus, Muhammad, Yahweh, or any other religious figure, self-help guru, or grand cosmic scheme to be found in the next life. As James Lindsay explains in his remarkably cogent and highly readable exposition on life and death, the meaning of life is to live, and the way to know how to live is vouchsafed to you by virtue of living. How? Read this insightful book to arrive at your own answer." Michael Shermer, Publisher, Skeptic magazine; columnist, Scientific American ; author, The Moral Arc , The Science of Good and Evil and How We Believe"James Lindsay and I are united by a deep commitment to live well right now. Love is a chief concern in that endeavor. We are divided over the answers to the big questions of life and our understandings of ultimately reality. Where there is no dispute is that Lindsay is one of the best writers I've read, bar none." Rick Henderson, Draper Campus Pastor, South Mountain Community Church, Utah" Life in Light of Death is a magnificent little book about the inevitable end to our sojourns on spaceship Earth. James is a nimble writer who does a marvelous job tackling a subject that's inherently difficult to discuss. The book is eloquent, thoughtful, and a genuine pleasure to read I highly recommend it!" Phil Torres, author, The End: What Science and Religion Tell Us About the Apocalypse ; founding Director, X-Risks Institute"Everyone we love will die and be forgotten forever, including us. Lindsay argues we can love deeper and live better once we accept this fact. Christians often say their faith leads them to love and life, but Lindsay shows another way: by accepting the truth about death. This is a very important message that should be heeded by everyone!" John W. Loftus, author, Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity

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Book SynopsisEveryone grieves in their own way and according to their own timeframe, the accepted wisdom tells us. But those in mourning rarely find comfort in knowing this. Further, those attempting to support someone in mourning can do little with this advice, leaving them with a sense of helplessness. As a mental health professional and someone who has dealt with her own share of personal grief, Candace R. M. Gorham understands well the quest for relief. The truth of the matter, she says, is there is no one way to grieve, but there are things that are important to pay attention to while mourning. While much of the advice she shares is universal, she pays particular attention to the struggle those who do not believe in a god or afterlife face with the loss of a loved one—and offers practical, life-affirming steps for them to remember and heal.Trade Review"I have never read a book like this before. It is the first of its kind. In a world where religion dominates, where grief is often seen through a religious lens, this book finally normalizes grief and loss for those who are secular. Yes, your pain is real; yes, it is normal to have intrusive religious thoughts. Candace brings a gentle balance. Sharing her own experiences of grief and loss as well as her clinical expertise, she offers concrete actions you can take to process your emotions and support yourself and others in their journey. Sooner or later we will all need these tools. This is a must read." Darrel Ray, EdD, president of Recovering from Religion, founder of The Secular Therapy Project, and author of The God Virus

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Book SynopsisThe unflinching Pulitzer Prize–winning essay on mourning and recovery in the wake of an inconceivable tragedy. An Atlantic Edition, featuring long-form journalism by Atlantic writers, drawn from contemporary articles or classic storytelling from the magazine’s 165-year archive.When Bobby McIlvaine died in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, his loved ones spun off in radically different directions, each mourning in his or her own distinct—and often highly idiosyncratic—way. Twenty years later, Jennifer Senior, a family friend and award-winning reporter, revisits the McIlvaines, examines their present lives, and contemplates what grief really means, in all its jagged complexity.

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Book SynopsisA NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEARA wrenching debut memoir of familial grief by a National Book Award finalist—and a defining account of what it means to love and lose a difficult parent, for readers of Joan Didion and Dani Shapiro.When Christopher Sorrentino''s mother died in 2017, it marked the end of a journey that had begun eighty years earlier in the South Bronx. Victoria''s life took her to the heart of New York''s vibrant mid-century downtown artistic scene, to the sedate campus of Stanford, and finally back to Brooklyn—a journey witnessed by a son who watched, helpless, as she grew more and more isolated, distancing herself from everyone and everything she''d ever loved.In examining the mystery of his mother''s life, from her dysfunctional marriage to his heedless father, the writer Gilbert Sorrentino, to her ultimate withdrawal from the world, Christopher excavates his own memories and family folklore in an effort to discover her dreams, understand her disappointments, and peel back the ways in which she seemed forever trapped between two identities: the Puerto Rican girl identified on her birth certificate as Black, and the white woman she had seemingly decided to become. Meanwhile Christopher experiences his own transformation, emerging from under his father''s shadow and his mother''s thumb to establish his identity as a writer and individual—one who would soon make his own missteps and mistakes.Unfolding against the captivating backdrop of a vanished New York, a city of cheap bohemian enclaves and a thriving avant-garde—a dangerous, decaying, but liberated and potentially liberating place—Now Beacon, Now Sea is a matchless portrait of the beautiful, painful messiness of life, and the transformative power of even conflicted grief."Acute, intimate and exceedingly fair, Sorrentino’s memoir is a post-mortem that examines not the causes of his parents’ deaths but the endurance and effects of their confounding marriage . . . This is the story of a son who is trying to dissect and understand the love that remains—and sometimes emerges—after death. We may have a greater cultural appetite for eulogies, but an autopsy, in looking directly at the cold corpse of a family in all its gruesomeness and mystery, can be just as profound, and in the hands of a writer as restrained and humane as Sorrentino, just as beautiful." —Eleanor Henderson, The New York Times Book Review

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Book SynopsisA NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEARA wrenching debut memoir of familial grief by a National Book Award finalist—and a defining account of what it means to love and lose a difficult parent, for readers of Joan Didion and Dani Shapiro.When Christopher Sorrentino's mother died in 2017, it marked the end of a journey that had begun eighty years earlier in the South Bronx. Victoria's life took her to the heart of New York's vibrant mid-century downtown artistic scene, to the sedate campus of Stanford, and finally back to Brooklyn—a journey witnessed by a son who watched, helpless, as she grew more and more isolated, distancing herself from everyone and everything she'd ever loved.In examining the mystery of his mother's life, from her dysfunctional marriage to his heedless father, the writer Gilbert Sorrentino, to her ultimate withdrawal from the world, Christopher excavates his own memories and family folklore in an effort to discover her dreams, understand her disappointments, and peel back the ways in which she seemed forever trapped between two identities: the Puerto Rican girl identified on her birth certificate as Black, and the white woman she had seemingly decided to become. Meanwhile Christopher experiences his own transformation, emerging from under his father's shadow and his mother's thumb to establish his identity as a writer and individual—one who would soon make his own missteps and mistakes.Unfolding against the captivating backdrop of a vanished New York, a city of cheap bohemian enclaves and a thriving avant-garde—a dangerous, decaying, but liberated and potentially liberating place—Now Beacon, Now Sea is a matchless portrait of the beautiful, painful messiness of life, and the transformative power of even conflicted grief.Acute, intimate and exceedingly fair, Sorrentino’s memoir is a post-mortem that examines not the causes of his parents’ deaths but the endurance and effects of their confounding marriage . . . This is the story of a son who is trying to dissect and understand the love that remains—and sometimes emerges—after death. We may have a greater cultural appetite for eulogies, but an autopsy, in looking directly at the cold corpse of a family in all its gruesomeness and mystery, can be just as profound, and in the hands of a writer as restrained and humane as Sorrentino, just as beautiful. —Eleanor Henderson, The New York Times Book Review

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Book SynopsisWhen is attending a funeral or memorial service “a must,” and when is it optional? Can a eulogy be funny? Can I scatter my brother’s ashes in the backyard? Should I place a death notice or an obituary? What’s the difference? These are all questions that Florence Isaacs has been asked as a blogger for Legacy.com, a role that earned her the nickname of the “Dear Abby of Death.” In Do I Have to Wear Black to a Funeral?, she answers urgent questions about grief, funerals, different religious ceremonies, and more, offering practical guidelines for modern situations—and, yes, what to wear. Isaacs’ honest, often entertaining, responses provide no-nonsense information to millennials, while also helping older generations navigate new waters, like how to send condolences through social media. She offers fresh insights, plus an etiquette map of the right things to do and say, in her familiar, sensitive, and sincere style.

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Book SynopsisWhat can you do when someone you love is dying?Do you have an elderly parent who is dying, or perhaps a partner who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness? Where or who do you turn to? What can you do about their quality of life for whatever time you have left together? How do you want to manage those dreaded death discussions? Being prepared may ease some of your and your loved one's fears surrounding death. Doctors may be helpful with medical needs, what about the emotional and non-medical needs?Susan B. Mercer, a trained end of life Doula, offers comprehensive solutions and advice about death and dialogues, to ease the fear and angst associated with death and dying. Caring for the non-medical needs of the dying person and their family members can bring a sense of understanding and relief to the dying process of life. The creation of a Legacy Project, attending to transition room preparedness, using visualizations, gathering knowledge of what directives are needed, and reviewing choices to be made prior to death can bring peace, ease, and serenity to all family members.Living even while dying is a blessing you can help your loved one manage, with the tools, understanding, and kindness found in A Graceful Goodbye.

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Book SynopsisA caring and compassionate grief book for bereaved parents who have lost a child."This book is a lovely blend of the author's personal journey with the death of her son and supportive information that can help parents see light amidst the dark."—Alan Wolfelt, Ph.D, CT, author, educator, and grief counselorBeing suddenly thrust into the world of parental grief is like being transported to a foreign land where you don't speak the language. With that in mind, Claire Aagaard has written When a Child Dies in a simple, straightforward manner, offering information, comfort and hope for those who believe that none is possible.Questions addressed include:Can we survive this?Is it possible to be happy again?Is forgiveness attainable?Can we survive this as a couple?How will this affect our loved ones?Is it okay to be angry with God?How do we cope with birthdays or holidays?Will my grief ever change?What can we do to help? (A chapter for supportive loved ones)Claire has written this book from a unique perspective—that of a professional grief counselor after working with dozens of bereaved parents, and as a parent with her own history of child loss. It is an honest yet gentle guide for grieving parents as well as their family, friends, and loved ones, offering the wisdom from her own personal journey as well as that of countless others."It will not always hurt as much as it does right now. Go slowly, be gentle and forgiving, and choose your path forward with loving intention."—Claire AagaardTrade Review"This book is a lovely blend of the author's personal journey with the death of her son and supportive information that can help parents see light amidst the dark." - Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D., CT, author, educator, and grief counselor"When a Child Dies begins with certified grief counselor Claire Aagaard's personal story of losing her son to a tragic accident. The author skillfully explores the various ways a child's death impacts all aspects of one's life including relationships, anger at God, and how friends and family can help. Claire's words are inspiring and hopeful, offering compassionate advice to grieving parents." - Pamela D. Blair, Ph.D., psychotherapist and co-author of I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye

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Book SynopsisAn essential grief guide and recovery workbook for those who have said, "I thought I'd feel better by now."Grief does not follow a timeline or a set path. It is nonlinear and messy, doubling back on itself just when you thought you were out of the woods. Those who have experienced the loss of a loved one know this unequivocally, but Western society still seems to think that grief should only last six months to a year-tops-when in fact, grief can last throughout a person's entire life and manifest as serious mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, anger, and despair.The Long Grief Journey, co-written by a psychotherapist and a clinical psychologist who have both worked with grieving individuals for decades, is for the people who are past the acute pain and effects of a sudden loss and are now learning to live beyond that. It is for those who by all appearances seem to have "moved on." They're working, carrying out their responsibilities, showing up for important life events, yet they quietly bear the weight of their sadness and longing for their loved one. There's a name for this type of long-term, unresolved grief. In fact, there are several: complicated grief, traumatic grief, complex bereavement, prolonged grief, extended grief, abnormal grief, exaggerated grief, and pervasive grief disorder. If you feel "stuck" after experiencing the death of a loved one, even if much time has passed, this book is for you.With exercises, journal prompts, and rituals that will further help readers along their grief path, The Long Grief Journey is designed to educate, support, and coach you to rekindle a desire to live life fully, all while still cherishing and embracing the memories of your loved one.

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