For Life: A memoir of living and dying - and flying

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After I swim, I watch an osprey hanging in mid-air. It looks like pure pleasure, suspended, its wings barely beating. If those who came before really do dissolve and dissipate, and if their cells really are all around us, then that bird is held there by Mum and Peter and my grandmother Molly and Ning and Grandpa and billions of others of the long-dead. The osprey, on its updraft, is kept aloft by absences. Perhaps I am too.

When her husband of nearly thirty years doesn't answer his phone, Ailsa Piper knows something is wrong. She calls their neighbour to ask him to check. Minutes later, he rings back. 'Oh, Ailsa. I'm so sorry,' he says. Five words to change a life...

Wanting to flee her shattered world in Melbourne, Ailsa migrates north. She rejects all advice, trusting a Sydney real estate agent to find her a nest - and he does, in a sunlight-filled haven. Soon, the harbour works its way into her days. She learns to swim. She walks, up to the lighthouse and along sandstone cliffs, meeting the locals: winter swimmers, shoreline philosophers, and others, like her, hiding sorrow in plain sight.

But we never leave our pasts behind. Ailsa is drawn back to the south, and even farther back, to the aqua waters of the west. Home, it would seem, is not just one place ...

For Life is a testament to the healing power of the natural world, a celebration of renewal and wonder, and an unflinching look at grief. It calls us to bear witness to death, and perhaps even embrace it as part of life's raucous cacophony. Above all, For Life is a beacon of hope, illuminating the dark.

Author Bio

Ailsa Piper's first book was the travel memoirSinning Across Spain. Then came The Attachment: Letters from a most unlikely friendship, which was co-authored with Tony Doherty. She has written for radio and theatre, and her scriptSmall Mercieswas co-winner of the Patrick White Playwright's Award. Ailsa also worked as an actor and director for many years and is an accomplished audiobook narrator.