By Erin Wood
Little Rock author Jennifer A. O’Brien has great hope that her book, The Hospice Doctor’s Widow: A Journal, released February 25, will help those facing death as well as normalizing and encouraging dialogue about end of life.
A love story and practical guide in one, O’Brien’s digital art journal chronicles the time in her marriage when her husband—a hospice doctor who spent a 40-year career of caregiving for others—was diagnosed with advanced, metastatic cancer. What began as O’Brien’s visceral, self-care compulsion within days of diagnosis became handwritten notes, colorful collages, and layered images revealing the raw, luminescent reflections of a caregiver-turned-widow. Beyond the practical guidance and solace offered by an insider, this book reminds us how to live presently during our darkest hours, honor grief, and discover—even after devastating loss—ways to forge forward.
O’Brien shares, “I hope this very personal, honest offering gives people the fodder and courage to talk with and LISTEN to each other about illness and death. Fearing or ignoring the sad and difficult stuff does not make it any less likely to happen. Rather, this avoidance can make us less alive during the joyful and wonderful moments and less capable of handling the inevitable. Caregivers feel isolated and exhausted nearly all the time. I hope my art journal will help them manage their own care, preparation, and interaction so that their regrets are few when they are in the position of grieving and survivorship.”
This 8 x 10 premium color hardback book has 86 pages and is available for order at etaliapress.com and through local and national booksellers.
A Hot Springs native, Erin Wood is a writer, editor, and publisher in Little Rock. She owns and runs Et Alia Press (etaliapress.com). Wood is author of Women Make Arkansas: Conversations With 50 Creatives (April, 2019) and editor of and a contributor to Scars: An Anthology (2015).
