The Green Hill: Letters to a Son

Former BBC reporter Pierce captures the agony of losing a child in this searing debut memoir about her struggle to accept her son’s sudden death. In 2017, Pierce drove to Leicester, England to see her 20-year-old son, Felix, perform in a university musical. When Felix—who developed epilepsy as a teenager—failed to meet her before the show, Pierce frantically tried to figure out who had seen him last. Eventually, authorities entered Felix’s dorm room to discover he’d been dead for several days. The autopsy was inconclusive, and the cause of death was categorized as SUDEP (sudden unexpected death in epilepsy). Pierce alternates her recollection of the following years with letters written to Felix after he died: some recount pleasant memories the two shared, others see Pierce contemplating suicide. The family’s first Christmas without Felix, as well as the first anniversary of his passing, hit especially hard. Throughout, Pierce holds nothing back, including the rift in her marriage caused by her and her husband’s different approaches to grief (“He is an introvert who keeps his feelings inside. I’m the opposite; I need to express what’s going on”). Her startling candor makes for tough but cathartic reading, particularly for those who’ve lost family members too early. The results are both brutal and beautiful. (Oct.)