This is a collection of 15 essays by contemporary writers such as Nina Bawden, Maeve Binchy, Lucy Ellmann, Shusha Guppy, Andrew Motion, Gillian Slovo and Mary Scott on the death of a parent and the profound shifts this causes in our mental landscape, forcing us to face our own maturity and mortality. A parent's death can also give us a new insight into the people they were, the people we are, and, if we have them, into the relationship we have with our children.