The household guide to dying

"On the face of it, Delias got it all good marriage, two great kids, dream job writing witty, practical house and garden books. But when shes diagnosed with terminal cancer, shes forced to view her life in an entirely new light. There are things she must do, there are wrongs to be put right, and there are mysteries from the past that demand resolution. But there is just so little time. Summoning all her strength, she returns to the tiny country town where she fled pregnant and unmarried 14 years before and comes to terms with a loss no mother should ever have to endure. She finishes writing her ultimate how-to book. And she tries, as best she can, to prepare herself and her family for the inevitable"

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.