Mourning Unlived Lives: A Psychological Study of Childbearing Loss

Of course this book will be used as a survival manual for grieving parents, but it is a remarkable kit for the biggest psychological project of our time: ordinary people teaching themselves to work through even the saddest occasions in order to live with strong feeling. Until our century, the gifts of spirit and psychology, such as finding meaning in grief, were regarded as something for the few. Now we all want whatever psychological insight we can lay hand to: we all want the conviction that no matter how fierce our grief, we are part of life, not in rebellion against it. Here is this book, marvelous not just for its therapeutic wisdom and compassionate discussion, but for its research on and reference to the great griefs of the past. Judith Savage takes us along the great wise route, connecting our private griefs to the general condition of us all.