In this five-week book study, participants will gather virtually, and in a facilitated format, examine parts of a book, themes, stories and share their responses to the book with the guidance of the group facilitator.

Each week, sections of the book are assigned to be read in preparation for the discussions that will take place online in the group gathering. Participants should have a copy of the book (hardcover, softcover or ebook) to follow along.

*Note: Hospice will have a limited quantity of books available for purchase. Please email Gabe Geiger regarding availability: ggeiger@hospicewaterloo.ca.

GOOD GRIEF: EMBRACING LIFE AT A TIME OF DEATH

By Catherine Mayer and Anne Mayer Bird

“The most life-affirming book ever written about death.” Sandi Toksvig 

”One of the most powerful and helpful books about grief that you will ever read.” Anita Anand 

”Grief is more than the price of love. It is love. We must learn not just to live with it, but to make it welcome.”

Mother and daughter Anne Mayer Bird and Catherine Mayer were widowed within 41 days of each other on the eve of the pandemic, then locked down alone. Their profound isolation was broken just once a week, when Catherine visited Anne to care for her, at distance and in a mask. Together they found ways to navigate their loss and the startling questions and challenges that confronted them.

In this memoir, Catherine also investigates the possibility that her husband, renowned musician Andy Gill, contracted Covid-19 when his band, Gang of Four, toured China in late 2019. Her focus, however, is not on death, but on life and love. This is a captivating account of lives well lived, moving, and spiked with black humour. It is interwoven with letters Anne wrote to her husband John to tell him of the astonishing and heartrending events since his death and her small triumphs in living independently. 

In sharing their insights and experiences, Catherine and Anne aim to help those who have lost or will lose people or who wish to know how best to support others in such circumstances. They also celebrate love- for John and Andy and each other. ”We are extraordinarily lucky, my mother and I. We have each other and we have this room. ”In this living room, we are learning to embrace the things we can’t touch, each other and the lovely dead.”

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Catherine Mayer is a bestselling author, award-winning journalist and co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party and Primadonna Festival.  Anne Mayer Bird is an arts publicist, who has worked across many art forms and at institutions including The Place, Opera North, The National Theatre, The Young Vic, The Philharmonic Orchestra and The Royal Court Theatre. She serves on the boards of two theatres.

THE FACILITATOR

Martina Steiger is a graduate of Narrative Medicine at Columbia University. Her work as a life and story coach, Spiritual Director, writer and transformative educator and facilitator centres on stories, the stories that shape individual experiences and relationships. As a health advocate and consultant, she focuses on the power of those narratives to change the way care is given and received. Martina aims to bring a critical and self-reflective lens to our perspectives, choices and actions as persons approach death and dying.

TO REGISTER

Please RSVP on this page. A Zoom link will be provided closer to the event to all registered participants.

DATES

All book study sessions will be conducted virtually on the following dates: Feb. 22, March 1, March 8, March 22, March 29.

Have Questions?

Please email Gabe Geiger at ggeiger@hospicewaterloo.ca.