In December 1993, John Dally flies from New York to London to be admitted to hospital suffering from pneumonia. It is an illness that signals the beginning of a gruelling journey towards his death from AIDS at some point in the near future. For John's siblings, it will be the death of another brother; for his parents, the death of another son in his mid-thirties.In this moving description of John's last months, his sister Emma describes the effect that AIDS has on his friends and family. It describes everyone's efforts to look after him, the rapid deterioration of his health, and the final weeks when he is cared for in his own home. Capturing the intense camaraderie and tensions that develop between the people at John's bedside, Emma Dally draws an affectionate but frank picture of her handsome younger brother, showing that being close to death does not change someone's essential character.
