Overview

In Spring 2017, Jess gave birth to her first daughter, Ottie. Ten weeks later her mother, the much-loved Labour politician Dame Tessa Jowell MP, was diagnosed with advanced brain cancer. This is the story of the year that Jess spent with her baby daughter in one arm, and her dying mother in the other - of becoming a mother whilst losing her own. Though Tessa Jowell lived a life of public service, this is not the story of a public person. We Are Each Other tells, with a powerful lyricism and raw intensity, of a mother and a daughter walking both sides of life and death together, documenting the extraordinary human ability to love, grieve and renew, alongside the changing seasons of the natural world. Despite the universality of bereavement and grief, our cultural expression of it remains awkward and inarticulate. How can it still be that death - the only certain thing about living - is so difficult for us to commune with? In We Are Each Other Jess seeks to write the book she desperately needed to read, and contributes to a roster of works advancing a shared language of love, griefand healing such as Clover Stroud's The Red of my Blood, Cathy Rentzenbrink'sThe Last Act of Love and Michelle Zauner's Crying in H Mart. It is not a book about grief, but one which writes grief itself: the internal journey from obliteration to renewal, which has no end, through which Jess discovers unknown capacities for resilience, love and courage.

Full Product Details

9781785124709

Table of Contents

Reviews

Utterly beautiful and devastating. A tender and powerful account. * Jessie Ware * An extraordinary exploration of loss, grief and life. * Lena de Casparis *

Jess paints the picture of grief and motherhood in such a profound way: Evocative, Tender, Exquisite. * Jessie Ware * A dazzling debut. Jess' words sing from the page. A book about grief that ultimately celebrates the joy and the hope of life at its core. A raw and fearless exploration of life, loss and mostly love - it is totally unforgettable. * Lena de Casparis, Elle * Stunning, lyrical and deeply felt. About death yes, but ultimately about the greater powers of love to redeem and heal. * Clover Stroud * Profoundly moving ... A beautifully expressed testament to the strength and depth of the maternal bond * The Bookseller * A moving tribute to motherhood and loss, Mills's prose is at once powerful and poignant. Her confrontation with grief, in the heady swirl of new babydom, evokes a profound sense of connection. Hope bursts from this book: it is a clarion cry, an elegy, an ode to the death-defying power of love. * Jessica Cornwell, Author of Birth Notes * Both a grief memoir and a love story, this is written from the fault line where joy and devastation collide. * Red magazine, 'Memoirs Not to be Missed' *

Utterly beautiful and devastating. A tender and powerful account. * Jessie Ware * An extraordinary exploration of loss, grief and life. * Lena de Casparis * This is a stunning book, about the ferocity of death, yes, but about the greater powers of love, too, to redeem and heal, and most of all connect us as humans. Lyrical, beautiful and deeply felt, it's a powerful testament to the bonds that hold us together through life and death, and a meditation, too, in the unfathomable mystery of existence. * Clover Stroud *

Jess paints the picture of grief and motherhood in such a profound way: Evocative, Tender, Exquisite. * Jessie Ware * A dazzling debut. Jess' words sing from the page. A book about grief that ultimately celebrates the joy and the hope of life at its core. A raw and fearless exploration of life, loss and mostly love - it is totally unforgettable. * Lena de Casparis, Elle * Stunning, lyrical and deeply felt. About death yes, but ultimately about the greater powers of love to redeem and heal. * Clover Stroud * Profoundly moving ... A beautifully expressed testament to the strength and depth of the maternal bond * The Bookseller * A moving tribute to motherhood and loss, Mills's prose is at once powerful and poignant. Her confrontation with grief, in the heady swirl of new babydom, evokes a profound sense of connection. Hope bursts from this book: it is a clarion cry, an elegy, an ode to the death-defying power of love. * Jessica Cornwell, Author of Birth Notes *

Author Information

Jess Mills is a writer, campaigner, podcaster and musician. She is CEO Founder of the Tessa Jowell Foundation and creator of the podcast Human With Jess Mills, set up to share and celebrate extraordinary human stories, which featured guests including Elizabeth Day, Lemn Sissay and Clover Stroud. She has published articles in Grazia, The Times, Guardian and most recently, Elle, where her piece on Mother's Day was the most read that weekend.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available