Broken Heart Still Beats, A: After Your Child Diesvolume 1 - Softcover

Mccracken, Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568385560 ISBN 13: 9781568385563

Publisher: Hazelden Trade, 2000

Synopsis

There are few, if any, events in life as traumatic, heart-wrenching, and crushing as the death of a child. While nothing can mute the pain of such a life-shattering loss, others who know this experience can help those suffering articulate the chaos of their feelings and see that they can, eventually, feel whole again.

Organized by a journalist and a psychotherapist, each of whom has lost a child, A Broken Heart Still Beats is a remarkable compilation of poetry, fiction, and essays about the pain, stages of grief, and the coping and healing process that follows the death of one's child. The chapters are organized thematically and chronologically, from "Thunderstruck", the point at which parents first learn they have lost a child, to "The Legacy of Loss", wherein the authors and the anthology selections speak to the "steely hard and cold" life lessons this type of bereavement brings.

This compilation of poems and excerpts draws from short stories, novels, biographies, and autobiographies that focus on the death of a child as relayed through classic and contemporary world literature. It is made up of works by some of the best writers and thinkers present and past, many of them bereaved parents as well, ranging from Mark Twain, Isabel Allende, William Shakespeare, John Edgar Wideman, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Anne Tyler, and Sophocles to Eric Clapton and Winston Churchill.

Biographical introductions personalize the excerpts, often offering new insights into well-known writers like William Faulkner and Rudyard Kipling. This book's anthologized selections make it truly exceptional. A Broken Heart Still Beats expresses the universal themes of grief, and the common points of these experiences and feelings - in language and imagery that goes straight to the heart. The fact that each of the authors has lost a child brings a powerful authenticity to the book. Bereaved parents and family members as well as mental health professionals, bereavement counselors, and those interested in grief literature will all find this book extremely valuable.

About this title

About the Author:

Anne McCracken, coauthor of A Broken Heart Still Beats: After Your Child Dies, is a former newspaper reporter and feature writer. She lives in Maryland and is now working on other nonfiction books. She lost her young son, Jake, in 1989.

Mary Semel is a clinical social worker and a bereaved mother. In 1991, her 16-year-old son, Alexander, was killed in a car accident. She turned to reading to assuage her grief, as did Anne McCracken. As they shared our literary discoveries, they decided to compile an anthology in the hope they could help others. It became A Broken Heart Still Beats: After Your Child Dies.
She currently has a private practice in which she does individual, couple, and group psychotherapy. Previously, she worked for 15 years in addictions treatment programs at two local hospitals. In one, she was responsible for conducting family therapy for families of alcoholics and drug addicts as well as individual and family counseling. Her husband, Peter, is an attorney in Baltimore, and daughter, Hilary, practices maritime law in New York.

Synopsis:

An extraordinarily beautiful and understanding compilation illuminates the tragedy of child loss - Over 50,000 hardback copies sold worldwide - An extraordinary compilation of poetry, excerpts from classic short stories, novels, biographies and autobiographies focusing on child death - Compiled from works by exceptional writers and thinkers: Raymond Carver, Joseph Campbell, Rabbi Harold Kushner, William Shakespeare, Albert Camus and others - Expresses universal themes of grief in heartfelt language and touching imagery - Many of the contributors are bereaved parents themselves ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: There are few, if any, events in life as traumatic, heart-wrenching and crushing as the death of a child. While nothing can mute the pain of such life-shattering loss, others who know this experience can help those suffering articulate the chaos of their feelings. A Broken Heart Still Beats is a remarkable compilation of poetry, fiction, and essays about the pain, stages of grief, and the coping and healing process that follow the death of one's child.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hazelden Trade
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1568385560
• ISBN 13: 9781568385563
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328