All at Sea by Decca Aitkenhead

This brilliantly written book is a uniquely honest account of losing someone suddenly and the reality of grief. Although not suicide specific there are lots of similar themes and emotions.

Amelia, one of our co-founders, found this book when searching through Amazon for books on grief, a cheery task! There are few out there and even fewer specific to suicide.

This book takes you on the journey of Decca Aitkenhead's incredible life but focuses on the sudden death of her husband. The style of her writing is realistic and shines a light on the mundane but has the face of an action-thriller novel.

Her bravery in talking about her own grief is encouraging and we particularly like her take on empathy. Below is one of our favourite quotes:

"It is a surprise to find myself thinking about how much worse other people's situations are than my own. In the past, whenever I heard others express something similar in the immediate aftermath of their own tragedy I assumed they were probably only saying so to sound like good people. But the sentiment turns out to be quite genuine; tragedy really does expand your circle of empathy."