I've enjoyed a couple of Liz Jensen's novels over the years. Her book 'The Ninth Life of Louis Drax' has always been significant though I didn't review it and I don't remember much about it now(!). And there was also The Rapture. So I was intrigued to find she had written a memoir - though sadly this book was prompted by the sudden death of her son, Raphael, at the age of just 25. In telling her response, she explores grief, hope and rebellion.

'My son's death will never make sense to me,' she writes. 'But it has taught me that it's possible to find meaning, collectively and individually, in the loss of what we love. And in finding them, transform.'

Raphael was on a run, training with friends, when he collapsed and died. A fit young man, he had dedicated his life to environmental activism and conservation.

Using the line from Mary Oliver's poem 'The Summer Day' as the title for this book, Liz Jensen tells of the intense and profound grief she felt in learning of her son's death, and the various ways she tried to accept it in the subsequent days, weeks and months. But she also looks at what her son was trying to achieve in his life and what she might learn about activism and protest, and the fragile future of our world.

It's a beautiful book. There's so much here.

Liz's own experience is raw and honest. She talks of belonging to the Terrible Club, seeking comfort from others who have experienced a similar tragedy to her own. She describes her good friends as elephants, gathering round to support and protect her. And how hurt she feels by those who can't speak to her in her loss.

She highlights how we are surrounded by stories on screens and books about crime and murder yet we have little acceptance or understanding of dying and death, and grief, as a society today.

And she also challenges us to think about what we're doing to respond to the climate crisis. She delights in the natural world as it reminds her of her son - she sees him in the birds and deer that visit her in her garden. 

I found I couldn't stop reading this book. Though obviously it's challenging at times, it's also full of hope and optimism, and we're urged to engage and get involved with what really matters. We only have one wild and precious life, what will we do with it?