The Diary of Losing Dad

The Diary of Losing Dad is the true story of a heartbroken woman trying to keep it together, and an intimate insight into what it is like to slowly, painfully lose someone you love.

Actor and writer Emily Bevan recalls the surreal months leading up to her father’s untimely death, during which she was filming a zombie series for television. Told from the perspective of a family who are stress-eating Percy Pigs, scrabbling around for change for the parking machine, and breaking down in the chemist because the pharmacist won’t sell them two packets of cream, this moving account is interspersed with diary entries, poems and her daily scribblings. Here Emily renders scenes of hospital life – both devastating and life-affirming – together with anecdotes of her family rallying around this much-loved man, and the poignant memories of his constant and enduring presence.

The book looks at how we each have our own unique response to tragedy: we all know that we are going to have to face death, yet we are so ill-equipped to deal with it.