Jan Pryor

Jan Pryor was born in Blenheim, New Zealand, in 1946 and has lived in various places in the world but is now settled happily in Wellington (most livable city in the world in 2017 according to Deutsche Bank!)

Her working life has been as an academic - hence the books on stepfamilies, divorce, etc. Now she has focused on non-academic writing, something in which she has dabbled for years. 'After Alexander' is an account of the impact of losing a baby, from the perspective of 34 years. The memoir is set in both England and New Zealand, since Alexander was born in London. It tells of the effects on the family and the author herself, and discusses her journey from shock and grief to acceptance and optimism. She brings her academic knowledge of families to bear on her experience and discusses grief; attempts at comfort that work and don't work; the decision to have another baby; the challenges of having a funeral as an agnostic; and the ways in which losing her child affected her as a person and as a mother and grandmother. She works now as a marriage and funeral celebrant, both of which are informed by her personal experiences.