The Archaeology of Loss

A stunning memoir exploring the realities of marriage, caregiving, how we die and how we grieve. After thirteen years together, Sarah Tarlow's husband Mark began to suffer from an undiagnosed illness, which all too rapidly left him incapable of caring for himself. Life - an intense juggling act of a demanding job, young children and looking after a depressed and frustrated partner - became hard. One day, five years after he first started showing symptoms, Mark waited for Sarah and their children to leave their home before ending his own life. Although Sarah had devoted her professional life as an archaeologist to the study of death and how we grieve, she found that nothing had prepared her for the reality of illness and the devastation of loss. Fiercely vulnerable, deeply intimate and yet unflinchingly direct, The Archaeology of Loss describes a universal experience with a singular gaze. With humour, intelligence and urgency, it is through its raw honesty that it offers profound consolation.