Publisher's Synopsis
MUM DYING, THE MUSICAL is a darkly humorous memoir of death and grief and the madness and chaos they inflict on families. An eccentric, mischievous and vivacious Irish matriarch with terminal cancer is nursed at home by her ten Irish-Canadian children. While she holds court from her ground-floor bedroom, all hell breaks loose around her. Told by Fourth-born Sister (the siblings range in ages from fifties to late sixties, from Youngest Sister right up to Eldest Sister), the book tracks how the author and her nine siblings plan to give their mother, Georgina, a beautiful and respectful end of life experience in the comfort of her own home but soon find themselves bickering, fracturing, competing and betraying each other into a grief-soaked oblivion.
But, unlike many books about grief, MUM DYING is uproariously and outrageously funny, as the author lays bare her own often less-than-honourable behaviour as well as the slights and grievances she perceives to be coming from members of her big, unpredictable family. As the worst thing that can happen does happen, this memoir is also an honest reflection on flawed humanity. And there's hope in the bigger picture of love, forgiveness and even a new kind of life after a death.
