Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End. For most of human history, death was a common, ever-present possibility. It didn’t matter whether you were five or fifty – every day was a roll of the dice. But now, as medical advances push the boundaries of survival further each year, we have become increasingly detached from the reality of being mortal – about what it’s like to get old and die, how medicine has changed this and how it hasn’t, where our ideas about death have gone wrong. Atul Gawande examines his experiences as a surgeon and those of his patients and family, and learns to accept the limits of what he can do.

What to Do When I’m Gone by Suzy Hopkins

This is an illustrated instruction manual for getting through life without one ‘s mom. It’s also a poignant look at loss and mourning, love and relationships, and getting through the phases of life one moment at a time, up to and including the end. This sounds heavy, but humor and great recipes ease the pain. By turns whimsical, funny, and touching, and above all pragmatic, it will leave readers laughing and teary-eyed. And it will spur conversations that enrich family members’ understanding of one another.

The Coffin Confessor by Bill Edgar

‘That’s when I stood up, told the best mate to sit down, shut up or fck off. That the man in the coffin had a few things to say.’ Imagine you are dying with a secret. Something you’ve never had the courage to tell your friends and family. Or a last wish – a task you need carried out before you can rest in peace. Now imagine there’s a man who can take care of all that, who has no respect for the living, who will do anything for the dead. Bill Edgar is the Coffin Confessor – a one-of-a-kind professional, a man on a mission to make good on these last requests on behalf of his soon-to-be-deceased clients. And this is the extraordinary story of how he became that man.

Listen by Kathryn Mannix

How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations. Most of us have a conversation we’re avoiding. From the bestselling author of With the End in Mind, this is a book about the conversations that matter and how to have them better – more honestly, more confidently and without regret. A child coming out to their parent. A family losing someone to terminal illness. A friend noticing the first signs of someone’s dementia. A careers advisor and a teenager with radically different perspectives.