Bonnie Lendrum provides valuable insights into the heart-wrenching struggles that families may experience as they strive for their loved ones to have the best possible end-of-life care. Compassionate and compelling, this book will motivate health care professionals to continue their work toward a seamless and coordinated health care system that can best meet their patients’ and their families’ needs. MARY DAVIES, MScN, member of The June Callwood Circle of Outstanding Hospice Volunteers
Autumn’s Grace is a rarity—a novel that gives the reader a close-up and at times blindingly honest view of a family’s end-of-life journey. The novel explores the emotions of a each family member as they try to deal with an unexpected diagnosis of cancer—their fear, anger, frailty, love, resentment, strength and loneliness. This book is a valuable resource for anyone wanting to understand the complexity of emotions facing what for many of us is one of the most difficult times in our lives and that that few of us are ever prepared to face. JANET NAPPER, Past Executive Director, Hospice Association of Ontario
This novel provides a bold and realistic exposé of the health care system as it deals with diagnosis, treatment, and care of someone facing the prospect of a complex terminal illness. The subject of death and dying are sensitively handled throughout, but this is not a recreational read for the squeamish because little is left to the imagination in the descriptions of medical technologies and the maintenance of bodily functions following surgery. The author is clearly well-versed in the clinical intricacies of her setting, and is an astute observer of the impact of a pending tragedy on relationships within a three generational family. This is a novel that should be added to the reading list for students of health services as it raises a number of important contemporary issues in hospitals and especially in palliative care. JUDITH M. HIBBERD, RN (Retired), Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta
I highly recommend this book and respect Bonnie Lendrum’s ability to help everyone appreciate what “patient care” is all about. LORINE BESEL, Past Vice-President Nursing, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal
Bonnie Lendrum 