The author’s father-in-law died just nine days after his cancer diagnosis, inspiring this moving and sharply observed account of his last days
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ovelist Sarah Perry’s memoir of her late father-in-law, David, chronicles the period from his first signs of illness, when he began to have trouble swallowing, to his diagnosis of oesophageal cancer, to his death at the age of 77 just nine days later.
We first meet David, a retired chemist from Norwich, on a day trip with Perry and her husband in the summer of 2022. The three of them have gone to Great Yarmouth where, seemingly in good health, David gleefully eats four hot doughnuts. She reveals him as an unassuming man who lives in a bungalow, drinks Yorkshire Tea, delights in telling bad jokes, and likes doing sudoku and watching Antiques Roadshow on TV. But right at the start, Perry notes that David’s death was only weeks away. Though his illness was mercifully short, the speed at which it progressed caught his family unawares, leaving precious little time to prepare.
In this moving and sharply observed book, Perry takes the common event that is terminal illness and elevates it to the realms of extraordinary as she recounts the physical and psychological changes in her father-in-law, the ministrations of doctors and carers, and the relentless form-filling. The narrator is the actor Lydia Leonard, whose reading is serious without veering too far into solemnity. David’s death is devastating for those who love him but, in the greater scheme of things, it is by no means unexpected. Perry’s account of his final weeks is required listening to understand an experience that for many feels unfathomable.
