Simply surviving trauma – whether it be illness, abuse, grief, a family tragedy or any kind – takes everything we have. But what happens after, when you realise that surviving survival might be harder still?
‘In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on.’ These words from Robert Frost, which Megan Maurice first read as a teenager, became the only way for her to make sense of what came after she endured and survived treatment for cancer, which was traumatic and life-changing.
After facing her mortality, and all the fear that brought not just for her but for her young daughter, Megan discovered that once the momentum of pure survival was gone, she had to deal with its aftermath – and there were no tools for that. No guidelines, no rule books.
What she wanted to know was if she was meant to go on, how did she go on? The world around her had not changed, even if she had. There just didn’t seem to be a place for her, so she made one. She went on to research trauma and recovery, and discuss lived experiences with many survivors – how they faced their darkest days and greatest worries.
Megan has written the very manual she needed but couldn’t find, and in the process has created a moving and illuminating portrait of not only the hardship of survival but its beauty too. For, when life goes on, there is so much to live for.
‘A hugely compassionate book. Maurice writes with extraordinary beauty and clarity about the less explored side of getting on with things.’ Anna Spargo-Ryan, author of A KIND OF MAGIC
‘Life Goes On is a thoughtful, clear-eyed examination of the aftermath of trauma. It is deeply personal and incredibly relatable. It shines a light into the dark corner of trauma and asks the all-important question of “what now?”‘ Liz Ellis AO
