Dimensions
128 x 197 x 31mm
A Memoir in Three Voices.
'I forget who said that the prospect of impending death concentrates the mind wonderfully . . . clarifying is the word I keep thinking of. But this is not the clarifying of a mist gently evaporating to reveal answers. This is the clarifying of paint-stripper; a solvent that stings and burns with its harshness, but reveals what was truly there all the time.'
When Doris Brett was diagnosed with ovarian cancer several years ago, she began writing a private journal - a kind of traveller's diary through a life-threatening illness. Ovarian cancer was the catalyst for this journey through self but it also became a metaphor for what was toxic within Doris's own family.
The life of an individual is as complex as a maze of reflecting mirrors, the life of a family even more so. Hauntingly told via three voices: the diarist, the poet and the voice of fairytale and myth, this memoir explores the complex dynamics of family, truth and memory - the question of who owns stories and how we allow the existence of more than one voice without perceiving it as an attack. Memory is fragile, and easily distorted. Silence may be a healthy and civilised accommodation to a difficult problem, but as Doris discovers, the experience of facing death also forces you to face life.
