Winter Sun: A Memoir of Love and Hospice

Winter Sun was planted in darkness and came to fruition in morning light. There is sadness in the story, but it is a memoir of love. As a memoir it is not overly concerned with medical facts or historical data; rather, it is a telling of the author’s personal experience and perceptions as his companion and fiancée is suddenly diagnosed and treated for stage four Glioblastoma Multiforme (GMD), more commonly known as a brain tumor.

And, too, this is a memoir of hospice. As the author writes in the preface, “Though I am tempted to use a euphemism for death, I will instead say that hospice is about life. Because of hospice, Janice was able to symbolically clasp my hand and take me with her as she slipped beyond the physical surface. She took me with her to the source, and then she gently let go.”

From Stephanie Ericsson, author of Companion Through the Darkness, Inner Dialogues on Grief: "I could not put down Winter Sun even though my eyes were filled with tears throughout every chapter. Never maudlin, Phil Rice's journey as he cares for his fiancé, whom he marries before she dies, is boundlessly tender and excruciatingly humble. His emotional epiphanies as he confronts the reality of the situation and the inevitable issues of religious beliefs are sheer poetry. Winter Sun is a must-read for anyone who is dealing with hospice care—or any of life’s profound interruptions."

Phil Rice is a native Tennessean whose career as a writer, editor, and teacher has also included extended residencies in Florida and Pennsylvania. Currently he shares a home with the poet Virginia Smith Rice in Woodstock, Illinois.