'Her words are brimful of love grace and kindness' Guardian 'She writes with a tender lyrical
beauty' Sunday Times A deeply personal memoir that finds light and love in the darkest of
places. As a specialist in palliative medicine Dr Rachel Clarke chooses to inhabit a place
many people would find too tragic to contemplate. Every day she tries to bring care and comfort
to those reaching the end of their lives and to help make dying more bearable. Rachel's
training was put to the test in 2017 when her beloved GP father was diagnosed with terminal
cancer. She learned that nothing - even the best palliative care - can sugar-coat the pain of
losing someone you love. And yet she argues in a hospice there is more of what matters in
life - more love more strength more kindness more joy more tenderness more grace more
compassion - than you could ever imagine. For if there is a difference between people who know
they are dying and the rest of us it is simply this: that the terminally ill know their time
is running out while we live as though we have all the time in the world. Dear Life is a book
about the vital importance of human connection by the doctor we would all want by our sides at
a time of crisis. It is a love letter - to a father to a profession to life itself.
