Death of an Ordinary Man
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Death of an Ordinary Man
Narrated by:
Lydia Leonard
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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Lydia Leonard
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By:
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Sarah Perry
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
Death of an Ordinary Man is an unforgettable account of this universal aspect of life. It is not a book about grief: it is a book about dying, and it is a book about family, and care and love.
Sarah Perry's father-in-law David died in the autumn of 2022, only nine days after a cancer diagnosis. Until then he'd been a healthy and happy man: he loved stamp collecting, fish and chips, comic novels, his local church, and the Antiques Roadshow. He was in some ways a very ordinary man, but as he began to die, it became clear how extraordinary he was.
Sarah and her husband Robert nursed David themselves at home, eventually with the help of carers and visiting nurses. They bathed and cleaned and dressed him, comforted him in pain, sat with him through waking and sleeping, talked to him, sang to him, prayed with him. Day by day and hour by hour, they witnessed what happens to the body and spirit as death approaches and finally arrives.
'Please read this book. It may very well change how you live' Rachel Clarke
'I was spellbound' Kathryn Mannix
'By the end I was left shaken, deeply moved' Christos Tsiolkas
'This book will be a lifeline for so many people' Seán Hewitt
'To read this book is a privilege, a gift on the craft of dying' Amy Key
© Sarah Perry 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
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Critic reviews
What a luminously beautiful book, an instant classic. Every page is suffused with such honesty, tenderness and love. Few people have written about dying with such clear-eyed accuracy and immense humanity. Never flinching, never sugar-coating, Sarah has captured brilliantly how caring for someone you love in their final days can upend everything you thought you knew about living. Please read this book. It may very well change how you live (Rachel Clarke)
Sarah Perry’s Death of an Ordinary Man is unflinching yet generous, a book that deals with grief and loss and death with acute honesty and without a trace of euphemism, with no retreat into sentimentality. It is scrupulous in its intent and in the writing and by the end I was left shaken, deeply moved. It is beautiful, a work of love and grace (Christos Tsiolkas)
I have just sat and read Sarah's wonderful book, nodding and agreeing with so many tiny details that she has noticed and reflected on with a writer's eye and a loving daughter-in-law's heart. Just beautiful. I hope her luminous writing will console and encourage her readers, all of whom are mortals. This book is a slice of reality that comforts even as it confronts us. It is a book filled with love and human frailty, and I was spellbound (Kathryn Mannix)
It’s very simple – a description of her father-in-law’s final illness and death – but it is beautiful and profound and completely gripping… The idea of a pain-free, comfortable birth or a pain-free, comfortable death is as misleading as the idea of a pain free, comfortable life. Death, even a good death, will be hard work at time and must be borne both by the person dying and by those around them. And that is natural and right, and something we learn by living a life (Mark Haddon)
I have not been moved like this by a book in a very long time. Death of an Ordinary Man is a masterful piece of writing. It gives dignity and weight to something as ordinary, as extraordinary, as death. By redeeming a common experience in all its intimacy, panic, disorientation and unexpected light, this book will be a lifeline for so many people. Those of us who have witnessed the death of a loved one will thank Sarah Perry for witnessing us in return. (Seán Hewitt)
Sarah Perry’s Death of an Ordinary Man is an act of devotion, not only to her father-in-law but to the art of memoir. What makes this book incredibly special is its intimate attentiveness to dying – how it transforms the subject and their witnesses – in Perry’s intelligent, precise and radiant prose. To read this book is a privilege, a gift on the craft of dying. I know I’ll reach for it when I need both courage and consolation (Amy Key)
This may appear to be a book about death, but really it is a love letter to life that resonates far beyond its own pages. Simply wonderful (Robert Douglas-Fairhurst)
Intense narrative
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Outstanding, informative and Emotional
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What a touching story
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I think it’s one of the most honest and beautiful pieces I have read on the process of an unexpectedly sudden ending to a life and the painful aftermath that inevitably follows the loss of a loved one.
I have lost three members of my own family to cancer over the years and can attest to the veracity of this book. One of the deaths in my family took place in a hospital setting within 2 weeks of receiving a diagnosis whilst another death occurred after going through major surgery in an attempt to remove the disease and when told the surgery had been unsuccessful, the decision to return home to die. I still recall the wonderful end of life nursing team going through all the forms with us and the heartbreak of ordering all the accoutrements required for end of life care, together with the generosity of our loved one’s who allowed us to care for them on their final journey.
Sarah Perry’s book allowed me the space to re-experience the vulnerability of our humanity from a rather different perspective than previously and I found it ultimately cathartic to read and bear witness to what we and many others go through together in life and death for those we love.
The Audible edition of this book is beautifully narrated by Lydia Leonard. I shall be buying several copies of the book to gift to friends.
Paean to a much loved father/father-in-law ……….
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Beautiful, poignant, vivid
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