PODCAST: On the Marie Curie Couch with Sarah Perry

Sarah is the internationally best-selling author of novels including The Essex Serpent, Melmoth and Enlightenment. Her first full-length non-fiction book, Death of an Ordinary Man, tells of how she cared for her father-in-law during his final days, reflecting on how death can be met and understood as part of life. It won the Nero Book Award for Non-Fiction and has been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction. Sarah is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was appointed Chancellor of the University of Essex in 2023. She lives in Norwich.

In this episode, Sarah talks about the seemingly innate ability to care for someone at the end of life, loving someone by preparing 'sadmin' and reducing the fear of death by talking about it.

It seems like an impossible contradiction in terms that something can be so devastating and so overwhelming but so normal and so domestic. But that’s what it felt like... You think you can’t do it. It sounds monstrous. But you absolutely can. If you have to, not only can you but you realise you are equipped to. I truly believe there is something base and atavistic and essential in us all to be able to shepherd someone out at the end of life.

We found a ring-bound notebook and he’d written on it something like, ‘Where everything is: A beginner’s guide’. He’d written inside it all of his passwords, accounts for various things… and he had a will. It was one of those moments where you understand the expression of love takes many forms. He had been loving us before he knew he’d been dying.

Listen to Jason's chat with Sarah on the player at the top of the page. You can also listen or download the conversation via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also watch a subtitled version of the conversation on YouTube.

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