After We Say Goodbye: The Price of Helping My Mother Die - Softcover

Davison, Sean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143530577 ISBN 13: 9780143530572

Publisher: Penguin Global, 2013

Synopsis

Sean Davison, a professor of science at the University of the Western Cape, made headlines when he was arrested in New Zealand for matricide. The story that emerged—how he helped his ailing mother in Dunedin die—is the subject of his affecting book Before We Say Good-Bye. This second book, After We Said Good-Bye, takes up the story from there: his arrest, trial and sentencing to 5 months of house arrest. The dramatic events that followed after this soft-spoken, unassuming man took the most fateful decision of his life, tore open family rifts and posed fundamental questions about life and about his choices. With unwavering frankness, Davison faces his demons: Should he have done what he did? Ought he to have exposed his family? Was it the right thing to self-sensor his book and conceal the fact that he had administered the morphine? And how should he come to terms with his sibling who had leaked the uncensored manuscript that led to his arrest? It is estimated that huge numbers of people die through assisted suicide, and Davison has become a vocal activist for the right to die in dignity.

About this title

About the Author

Even for a writer, the hardest thing to write about is yourself. I can write chapters and chapters about somebody else entirely, someone who isn't even real, but when it comes to myself? Even by typing these words I find myself putting it off. So then, what to say? Where to begin? At the time of writing I am 28 years old, pushing fairly close to 29, and I live in Derby in the Midlands with my housemate right smack-bang in the middle of suburbia. In my day job I work with electricity, but at night (late at night more often than not) I sit at my desk in my bedroom and I write, write, and write. This has pretty much been the arrangement for the last ten years or so, maybe longer. Originally from Sheffield, I studied English Literature at college which is where I developed a love for characters. I remember reading Othello one term, and when I say reading, I mean we more-or-less acted the whole thing out, each of us playing a part. I played Iago, the machiavellian villain, perhaps one of the first of his kind. Growing up in the age of cheap television and action movies, I was used to my bad guys blowing things up and trying to overcome our heroes by use of force. But then I met Iago, a cunning mastermind who uses the power of suggestion and manipulation to get what he wants. The title of the play may well be named after the hero, but Iago was a far more fascinating character to me. At 18 I made the big move to Derby to study Creative Writing and Film/Television. I got a 2:1 after three years and honed my craft. The past few years has been a balancing act between developing my career as both a writer and in my day job, I'm sure all aspiring writers can relate. After a few failed attempts to start on a novel, in November 2012 I sat down and just started typing, and this time I didn't stop. It took a whole year, but I finally finished my first novel, Mouth, and it was the best feeling. It took another few months of editing to get things just right, and now it is ready to go. And now, with another book possibly in the works, the balancing act starts all over again, but I wouldn't give it up for anything.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Global
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0143530577
• ISBN 13: 9780143530572
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 240