This is a book about the death of a child and was first published in February 2008. Due to heavy demand it was reprinted in July 2008. Because the death of a child evokes widespread sympathy, the Irish Examiner and the Farmers Journal devoted a full feature to the book. The trauma following the death of a child was discussed for an hour on the Gerry Ryan Show by Jim O’Shea and his son, Bill.
The royalties from this book are given to the Children’s Hospital in Crumlin.
Death of a Child is an experiential book in which the reader is invited into the minds and hearts of a family devastated by the death of their beloved son and brother, Cathal, in a traffic accident in 1990. Through the voices of the parents and siblings, it explores the many feelings, thoughts and behaviours in their struggle to survive, exist, and finally to live following the tragedy.
It is one of the few books to explore the impact of a deep loss on siblings as well as parents. Sometimes siblings are sidelined as societal sympathy is directed at the bereaved parents. In this book all Cathal’s siblings have a voice and it shows the terror and grief that they, too, suffered. The book uncovers a family slowly and painfully emerging from the darkness and chaos to reach some kind of acceptance and to make the decision to live rather than to merely exist.
The aim of the book is to validate the grief journey of so many others and to offer hope when they feel hopeless.
Ordering Information
Available in Ireland and the EU on Amazon.com. Due to Brexit, books produced in England will not be shown for some time to Irish purchasers on Amazon UK. Death of a Child was produced in England
