Radical Acts of Love: How We Find Hope at the End of Life

Description

In Radical Acts of Love, Janie Brown, oncology nurse of thirty years and counsellor of cancer patients with terminal diagnoses, recounts twenty conversations she has had with the dying; including those personally close to her. Each conversation uncovers a different perspective on, and experience of, death, while at the same time exploring its universalities. As well as offering an extremely sensitive and wise insight into our final moments, Brown offers practical ways to facilitate the shift from feeling helpless about death to feeling hopeful; from fear to acceptance; from feeling disconnected and alone, to becoming part of the wider, collective story of all our mortality.

Janie Brown was born in Scotland and has a Masters in Psychology at St. Andrews University, and a Masters in Nursing at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. She has worked for more than thirty years as an oncology nurse and counsellor, and in 1995 founded the Callanish Society, a grassroots non-profit organisation for people living with, and dying from, cancer, based in Vancouver (callanish.org). She presents nationally and internationally, has published in professional journals, and writes a widely-read blog. lifeindeath.org

For a book that concerns itself with so many ways of coming to terms with death, this remarkable book is hugely life-affirming. It makes you think not just of how you might want to approach death, but of how you might want to live. These conversations from the heart of dying are bold, gracious, often witty and full of love. They accompany you in the dark. Then they let the light in -- JACKIE KAY A book about love as much as it is about death . . . This is a glorious book that I would not hesitate to give to anyone facing an unwelcome diagnosis or prognosis of their own or of a loved one. It is kind and practical. . I learned so much and feel glad that it exists and convinced that many people will be helped by Brown's generous sharing of more than 30 years' experience of working with the dying -- CATHY RENTZENBRINK * * The Times * * Brown is a deeply compassionate and sensitive interlocutor and these accounts brim with humanity . . . Insightful, wise and life-affirming, Brown's book teaches us that sharing someone's final weeks is perhaps the most radical act of love we can offer * * Observer * * Janie Brown demonstrates the power of a book to transform, in fact to turn things upside down. She turns death into life, despair into hope, sorrow into joy and pain into love with these twenty astonishing encounters with the dying . . . Unforgettably wise, kind and wonderful -- STEPHEN FRY Brown's writing can be elegant and powerful . . . The book reframes what it means to heal, which we usually associate with recovery and, therefore, the continuation of life * * Guardian * * Compassionate, sensitive and heart-warming tales of the one thing in life that's certain -- PROFESSOR STEPHEN WESTABY * * Sunday Times bestselling author of Fragile Lives * * Remarkable . . . Everyone ought to read this book, because we are all going to die, and this book will help us to do it with grace and courage. More than that: it will help us help our loved ones to die without fear or regret. What greater gift than that can a book bestow on the reader? -- RICHARD HOLLOWAY There is no one on earth who cannot benefit from reading this book. The insights, perspectives and wisdom in Radical Acts of Love can transform our approach to the end of life from fear to a sense of adventure -- RACHEL NAOMI REMEN * * author of Kitchen Table Wisdom * * The most surprising and beautiful travel guide to a journey we will all have to make. Janie Brown has accompanied many great souls through their final days on Earth, and what she has learned she offers us now in this exquisite book about life -- CHRIS CLEAVE This book is itself a radical act of love . . . Reading the stories of these humans, compassionate, ordinary and profound, will help you be with the dying, and to be with yourself amidst the dying. Like the best books of every genre, this one is wrought with beauty, great care and attention, and can teach us all how not to look away -- PAM HOUSTON * * author of Deep Creek * *