Lindsay Nicholson, Living on the Seabed (Vermilion 2005)
A memoir of love, life and survival. Buy on Amazon
'The morning after John's death, I remember feeling absolutely enraged that the world had kept turning and the sun had come up as if nothing had happened.' Lindsay Nicholson and her husband, the Observer journalist John Merritt, were regarded as a golden couple. But their world was turned upside down when John contracted leukaemia. His death at the age of 35 left Nicholson bereft with grief, now the single parent of two beautiful daughters. Then, in a tragic twist of fate, her elder daughter Ellie also contracted the same disease, dying shortly after. Nicholson found that the stages of grief - shock, denial, deep despair and depression - although well documented, did not progress in an orderly manner, nor could anything prepare her for the emotions she was feeling. In this courageous and inspiring book, Lindsay Nicholson looks at the grieving process and offers a roadmap to help all of us navigate a path none of us chooses but all of us must walk.