Grief Stricken

In her debut teaching memoir, Grief-Stricken: Stories of Altered Loss in a Pandemic Haze, the author weaves together pieces of painful grief narratives as they are still being constructed by those most impacted, namely the chief mourners. Joys and challenges are shared as the author and her family learn to process the multiple trials that 2020 presented. Their stories show how they endured the initial anguish and are summoning the courage to live forward with remembrance of those they lost: a daughter, a husband, a mother, and a brother. The bereaved, in their own words, bravely provide the reader with an account of perseverance amid tragedy and ultimately aim to bring hope to other grievers in an uncertain world.

"A writer's search for inspiration, beauty, and solace leads her to birds in this ... meditation on creativity and life"--

Colt Westphall is a broken man. A tragic accident tore everything he cared about from him, causing him to go into a major depressive drinking binge, ignoring all responsibility. On the verge of losing everything he owns, he pulls himself out of his stupor, trying to catch up. But putting faith in a friend’s hands lands him in major trouble with the infamous Lincoln Reeves. While struggling to get himself out of this mess, Colt’s brother, the only family he has left, gets dragged in the middle. Can Colt save his assets, ante up with Lincoln, and save his brother?

A glimpse of my journey, the raw & transparent feelings after losing one of the best parts or me, My Daddy! Take a ride with me as I process this new normal, and encourage you to process your feelings related to the loss you have suffered as well. I encourage to hold on to your memories like precious jewels.

Grief, by its very nature, is overwhelming. And, many people accept that there are established stages of grief: anger, denial, bargaining, and acceptance. Sometimes the grief stricken will attempt to plod through these stages with a sense of determination, hoping for a feeling of control during a time that feels totally out of control. Unfortunately, the stages are not linear, nor are they predictable. Grief cannot be rushed. Grief takes its own leisurely and excruciating time. It cannot be gotten around; it must be gotten through.In this book, award-winning author Spike Gillespie and author Katherine Tanney present a series of essays written by those who have been devastated by grief and have found a way through to the other side. From the loss of a loved one to death, to divorce, job loss, and even unexpected sources of grief, Gillespie and other essayists describe their initial feelings of helplessness, their attempts to push through the stages of grief, and the things that gave them comfort and solace along the way.

Here he is, husband and father, scruffy romantic, a shambolic scholar--a man adrift in the wake of his wife's sudden, accidental death. And there are his two sons who like him struggle in their London apartment to face the unbearable sadness that has engulfed them. The father imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness, while the boys wander, savage and unsupervised. In this moment of violent despair they are visited by Crow--antagonist, trickster, goad, protector, therapist, and babysitter. This self-described "sentimental bird," at once wild and tender, who "finds humans dull except in grief," threatens to stay with the wounded family until they no longer need him. As weeks turn to months and the pain of loss lessens with the balm of memories, Crow's efforts are rewarded and the little unit of three begins to recover: Dad resumes his book about the poet Ted Hughes; the boys get on with it, grow up. Part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay on grief, Max Porter's extraordinary debut combines compassion and bravura style to dazzling effect. Full of angular wit and profound truths, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers is a startlingly original and haunting debut by a significant new talent.

'Chances are, if you are reading this, your heart is broken. This book is designed to help those in pain - and specifically those who have lost someone through death - to imagine the path before them. It is a path of suffering. But it is also a path that may lead to unexpected discoveries - and to peace.' There is no sure route through grieving. Jerusha Hull McCormack provides instead a series of signposts by which we may find our own path to a new life. 'We are all amateurs at grief' she writes, 'it comes to us all; we must all go through it. To treat grief as a problem to be fixed, or (worse still) to medicalize it, is to rob us of the extraordinary privilege of encountering this experience on our terms: for each of us has our own way of grieving, and each of us has something special to learn from the process.'

JULIA SAMUEL'S LATEST BOOK, EVERY FAMILY HAS A STORY, IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW A Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller Death affects us all. Yet it is still the last taboo in our society, and grief is still profoundly misunderstood... In Grief Works we hear stories from those who have experienced great love and great loss - and survived. Stories that explain how grief unmasks our greatest fears, strips away our layers of protection and reveals our innermost selves. Julia Samuel, a grief psychotherapist, has spent twenty-five years working with the bereaved and understanding the full repercussions of loss. This deeply affecting book is full of psychological insights on how grief, if approached correctly, can heal us. Through elegant, moving stories, we learn how we can stop feeling awkward and uncertain about death, and not shy away from talking honestly with family and friends. This extraordinary book shows us how to live and learn from great loss.