Novels Exploring Terminal Illness in Middle Age

Novels Exploring Terminal Illness in Middle Age

This article relates to We All Want Impossible Things

In her novel We All Want Impossible Things, Catherine Newman chronicles the final days of Edi's life from the perspective of her lifelong friend, Ashley. Though terminal illness and death can be tragic at any age, facing these realities at the stage of life Edi is in comes with a particular set of challenges, such as knowing she will miss out on watching her child grow up, and having to accept not being able to live out all the time and life goals she thought she would.

Below is a selection of other novels that feature characters dealing with terminal illness in middle age, their lives cut short in their prime.

Never Change by Elizabeth Berg follows Myra, a 51-year-old home care nurse assigned to look after her former adolescent crush as he succumbs to a brain tumor. Blending nostalgia for the past with the heartache of the present, their reunion re-sparks old feelings, but is marred by the knowledge that their days together are numbered.

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy is Rachel Joyce's follow-up to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which tells the story of a recently retired man who receives a letter from a former colleague named Queenie, letting him know she is dying, and his journey across the country on foot to reach her before it's too late. The companion novel tells the story from Queenie's perspective. As she lies in her hospice room awaiting his arrival, she writes of the past, in search of atonement.

Narrated in part from the perspective of the disease ravaging the protagonist's body, Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer is a unique, lyrical take on illness and death. Combining humor with heartbreak, it explores Lia's life, past and present, as well as the impact her diagnosis has on her husband and their adolescent daughter.

In Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova, Joe, a police officer in his 40s, is diagnosed with the neurodegenerative condition Huntington's Disease. He and his four adult children face a string of painful realities and difficult choices. Each of his children has a 50% chance of inheriting the disease from him, with a blood test able to determine whether they carry the gene or not. They must decide whether the anxiety of not knowing outweighs the potential devastation of a positive result, all while dealing with their father's worsening symptoms.

The Spare Room by Helen Garner is a novel about acceptance and compassion, exploring the complex friendship between two women; one who is dying, and one who is asked to care for her. They are at odds over their differing views on alternative therapies versus traditional medicine.

Filed under Reading Lists

This "beyond the book article" relates to We All Want Impossible Things. It originally ran in January 2023 and has been updated for the November 2023 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

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