Absolutely Delicious

A Chronicle of Extraordinary Dying

By: Alison Jean Lester

Narrated by: Alison Jean Lester

After a life marbled with exploration, academia, and domesticity, the writer Valerie Lester retired to a residential hospice and set about enjoying the final act of her life.

Yes. Enjoying.

She knew just where she wanted to be, with whom, doing what, and she communicated this to her family and friends with clarity and consistency. She died nine weeks later, having engaged in dying with equanimity, curiosity, and even amusement.

In Absolutely Delicious, Valerie’s daughter, the novelist Alison Jean Lester, describes the roads leading to her mother’s cooperation with her terminal disease and her decision to forego treatments that might have prolonged her life but also might have ruined her death. It is a story that illuminates the benefits of acceptance and the many gifts offered by daring to own one’s end.

©2020 Alison Jean Lester (P)2020 Alison Jean Lester

Important book on Death and Dying

What a perfect title for this book. In the US, our culture seems to fear or in many cases, deny the reality that we are all going to die. I am a hospice nurse and it so sad to see many patients and families fight the dying process right up to the very last breath.

This book gives a different perspective on death. That of not fighting or denying the inevitable but rather embracing it as another part of life.

What a beautifully written deeply personal story! I applaud Alison Jean Lester for sharing hers and her parents experiences with the world. Bravo!

Performance by the author herself adds another wonderful layer to the story.

A richly written and keenly insightful memoir written for a mother.

This is a must for those who shy away from the subject of losing a parent. Here is eloquence and inspiration on the subject, in the form of a candid biography of a fascinating and accomplished person. Congratulations to the writer who so brilliantly and so completely capturies the voice and complex wisdom of her mother. The audio version is spectacularly read by the author herself.