Category: Biography
Unabridged on 5 cassettes
Listening time: 6 hours 21 minutes
Read by Helen Morse

"Confronting yet deeply moving ~ an ackknowledgement of the miracle that is unconditional love. And this story above all, is a love story."

This is a deeply intimate story of love and loss. Ruth Cracknell and her husband Eric Phillips plan a trip to Venice as a break from their busy lives. It is a chance for them to savour the beauty and history of Venice, and to relax and spend precious time together. The reality turns out to be very different when Eric, who is normally never sick, develops a major nose bleed and then has a stroke. And that is only the beginning of their problems. Caught in a medical system which is underfunded and under-resourced, in a country where they do not speak the language, it is a true nightmare.

Ruth's memoir of this struggle and of their journey back to Australia on a medical evacuation, and then Eric's subsequent 'last journey' is very detailed and starkly honest, yet at the same time very personal and moving. It is not all inward looking however, as Ruth also pays tribute by virtue of the story to their family and the medical and nursing staff in both countries. But above all it is a tribute to Eric and their love for each other.

The writing is a little choppy, but actually better written than I was expecting, and Helen Morse does an absolutely brilliant job as narrator.


Sending to peggysmum.

One item out of a large parcel of books from the generous crimson-tide. Thank you so much, crimson-tide. I read this when it first came out, and before the death of Ruth Cracknell. Funnily enought, I rabck'd a hard copy the day before this arrived. I look forward to hearing how Helen Morse reads it because I can still "hear" Ruth Cracknell in my head.