I didn't want it to end...

I loved having Clover and The Red Of My Blood in my ear. It was comforting having someone understand. To write about how death feels and how life continues and becomes much more sharply in focus. So many moments in this memoir stirred me, made me clasp my hand over my mouth to stifle my sobs as tears fell from my eyes. And in the next moment I'm saying "yep" in agreement and nodding my head and smiling. There is truth and human connection in this book. It's much more than a memoir it's a bridge from this word to the next. Thank you Clover. ❤ Louise Grasso @daughterofthebottle

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Hugely beautiful

Just dazzling, hugely life affirming and just incredibly comforting. I cannot recommend highly enough. Read it and it will change your life for the better.

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A raw, heart felt book, took my breath away at times!

I found myself taking deep breaths often throughout this book. I love the way Clover Stroud writes - and also how she speaks. I find her expression to be honest and slightly naughty - which is a relief to me!
Listening to this book had me pulling over in my car multiple times - and taking a moment to think and feel.
It sparked a sort of cathartic processing of my own experiences of the death of my sister at a similar time. The strange things you walk through after someone dies, the thoughts, the turmoil, the shit, the pain, the bubble. Also the people, places and things that leave a strange imprint on you at the time.
For me, the best bits were:
the special language- the code between sisters - Pure New Wool’. Heart wrenching:( beautiful.
The shadow of death that hangs around you when someone dies - somehow she manages to put this on paper.
And the worrying about her dead body. Seriously, I am so pleased someone said this out-loud!
It’s intense - but if you’re looking for someone/something to walk through the experiences of loss & death & life & love & searching with, this is for you. If you’ve ‘been there’ you will find a kindred spirit within this book & those who know, know how important that is.

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Deeply and achingly felt every word.

After loosing my mum in 2020 to cancer, I have not really been able to make sense of her death and where my life now fits. This book spoke in ways I’ve never heard anyone else speak of death. I felt it fully, I cried and smiled with complete joy at the words. Thank you so very much for allowing me time to feel something more than I did. Feels like the beginning of a journey..

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Beautiful, raw and profoundly moving

This intensely beautiful, open and honest book exploring life and death is unlike anything I’ve read previously and I would highly recommend to anybody interested in what it is to be human.

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Breathtakingly personal and amazingly written!

What a work of art!
Clover has done it again!
This book follows on from the death of her sister Nell in 2019.
The way clover writes is so emotive and brutally honest, it feels as if you are reliving the journey with her.
If anyone is looking for a read, then this is it!
A beautifully written experience of having to live after your closest human leaves without you.

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Such a beautiful rendering of grief

I absolutely loved this book. Clover writes exquisitely and intimately and I love her descriptions (of something almost impossible to describe) and the questioning around signs which resonated so much with me. Highly recommended if you have lost someone close. Having it read by the author enhances it all even more. Thank you so much for staring your experience Clover.

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My review of this book

I liked the way the author weaves the energies of grief through the forest. She used colour to describe its greatest sting and this for me in a sign of a fantastic writer who is capable of healing those who are lucky enough to read and listen to her life story. Stroud is a survivor of great life challenges that we can draw strength from. Just like her sis Nel.

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Incredible

What an absolutely wonderful, heartbreaking and beautiful piece of writing. I feel this book will stay with me forever. It was incredible.

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Love the Honesty

It’s very hard to be honest and true but Clover has achieved this in a very special realistic way 🙏

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