Death
The death of widowhood
There were many tributes paid to the Jersey aid worker Simon Boas when he died of throat cancer in July,…
Keep fun out of funerals
There are two untraditional ways to take your leave of this world in Britain. The bleaker is the ‘direct cremation’…
What would the Romans think of assisted suicide?
What a song and dance about the end of life! Historians assure us that, among human beings, there is a…
Back from the beyond: The Book of Love, by Kelly Link, reviewed
Three adolescents reappear in their home town on the Massachusetts coast, having been presumed dead – which is closer to the truth than their families realise
Septuagenarians behaving badly: Stockholm, by Noa Yedlin, reviewed
Four elderly people conspire, for different reasons, to keep the death of their friend a secret until he’s safely awarded the expected Nobel Prize for Economics
‘You cannot begin by calling me France’s most famous living artist!’: Sophie Calle interviewed
‘You cannot begin by calling me France’s most famous living artist!’ Thus Sophie Calle objected to the first line of…
Richard E. Grant’s tribute to his wife leaves us shattered for his loss
Richard E. Grant pulls off a feat here. The title is twee but the content isn’t. With unselfpitying dash the…
‘I always made an awkward bow’: John Keats’s poignant farewell
On Sunday 17 September 1820, John Keats and his travelling companion, the young painter Joseph Severn, set sail for Italy,…
James Bond and the Beatles at war for Britain’s soul
‘Better use your sense,’ advised Bob Dylan: ‘take what you have gathered from coincidence.’ John Higgs is a master of…
A dying doctor’s last words
Facing up to the prospect of one’s own mortality is always jarring; but when you’ve spent your life trying, and…
A lost brother: My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is, by Paul Stanbridge, reviewed
Grief leads us down some strange roads. Few, though, can be as peculiar as those charted by Paul Stanbridge in…
Naples will never escape the shadow of Vesuvius
Naples, the tatterdemalion capital of the Italian south, is said to be awash with heroin. Chinese-run morphine refineries on its…
It is time for me to ‘get right with the Lord’
‘But you look so well!’ How many times have I heard that lately. Kindly meant by most, but for a…
What do Beethoven, D.H. Lawrence and George Best have in common?
This is not a book about tennis. Roger Federer appears early on, trailed by the obligatory question ‘When will he…
Murder, suicide and apocalypse: Here Goes Nothing, by Steve Toltz, reviewed
Angus Mooney is dead. Freshly murdered, he’s appalled to find himself in an Afterworld, having always rejected the possibility of…
Sister, where are you? – Clover Stroud mourns her beloved sibling
‘CERTIFICATE IS NOT EVIDENCE OF IDENTITY,’ the freshly issued death certificate read. In the craziness and shock of grief for…
A playful version of the universe: Pure Colour, by Sheila Heti, reviewed
Readers familiar with Sheila Heti’s work, most notably How Should a Person Be? and Motherhood, in which she examines both…
The dark world of illness influencers
I have heartburn. I probably have heartburn simply because both my parents also had a lot of heartburn, and I…
The best podcasts about dying, or almost dying
If there’s any form of entertainment that I will reliably find time for, no matter how big the to-read pile…
It's hard not to pity Ghislaine Maxwell
It’s hard not to feel a batsqueak of pity for Ghislaine Maxwell — 500 days and counting in solitary confinement.…
Covid has warped our collective attitude to death
Covid or no Covid, we’re all going to snuff it
Death by negligence: why did no one diagnose my sister’s TB?
In 2016, Arifa Akbar’s elder sister, Fauzia, died suddenly in the Royal Free Hospital, London at the age of 45.…
Covid deaths in context
What would have been your overall chances of dying in the first 19 weeks of 2021 compared with recent years?…
