Grieving: A Love Story
Ruth and William Coughlin married at mid-life and spent eight happy years together until June 1991, when Bill, a judge and the author of 15 novels ( Death Penalty ), was diagnosed with liver cancer. In this memoir, Coughlin, the book review editor for the Detroit News , recalls her husband's 10-month struggle to stay alive and her efforts to ensure that he would die with dignity. Her book differs from others of this genre in not romanticizing the suffering she and her husband endured. Optimistic and good humored, Bill was convinced that chemotherapy treatments would slow the growth of his cancer. The Coughlins alternated between confidence and despair until it became clear that there was no more hope. After her husband's death, the author embarked on a mourning that she describes as "a narcissism that borders on the pathological." Offering no panaceas, her candor demonstrates that death and loss are facts of life. Author tour.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.