Mother Lode: Stories of Home Life and Home Death

A teenage boy is dying of cancer, and his mother cannot save him. But Susan Addison has a strong heart and a gift for words, and the stories she tells her son Charlie sustain them both through his long illness.These are stories of home, of Charlie's young life Before Tumour, of family cakes and the rich housekeeping heritage passed down the generations. They provide a comforting context - and the relief of humour - for the emotionally wrenching stories of life After Tumour.For these are also stories of home deaths. In a decade of loss Susan's parents and parents-in-law also die, but natural deaths at the end of fruitful lives are easier to bear.In writing of Charlie and his grandparents, Susan Addison draws on the rich mother lode of our common human experience of love, loss and grief. Her inspiring stories help us view death as an acceptable part of living, where memories and pain are shared, and laughter is never far away.