On Loss and Living Onward: Collected Voices for the Grieving and Those Who Would Mourn with Them

by Melissa Dalton-Bradford

Overview

After experiencing the loss of her first-born son, Melissa Dalton-Bradford thrust herself into literature searching for those who have experienced similar, devastating loss. What she found was comfort and guidance to help her overcome the pain of losing a loved one and the faith to face her own life without him. In On Loss and Living Onward, she has compiled the best resources that will guide the living through the process of grief.

Superbly written essays by author and bereaved mother accompany each of five sections: Life at Death; Love at Death; Living After Death; Learning From Death; Life, Love, and Light Over Death. Quotes are from across history, geography and the philosophical spectrum. A substantial bibliography and suggested readings list is included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938301926
Publisher:	Familius
Publication date:	05/06/2014
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Melissa Dalton-Bradford is a writer, independent scholar, world citizen, and mother. She holds a BA in German and an MA in comparative literature, both from Brigham Young University. She speaks, reads and writes fluent German, French, and Norwegian, is conversant in Mandarin, and has taught language, humanities, and writing on the university level. Bradford has performed professionally as a soprano soloist and actress in the US, Scandinavia, Central Europe, and South East Asia. She and her husband raised their family of four children in Hong Kong, Vienna, Oslo, Paris, Munich, Singapore, Geneva, and Frankfurt.

Table of Contents

PART I: LIFE AT DEATH
Plunged
Pain
Drowning
Apart
Tearspeak
Silence and The Unspeakable

PART II: LOVE AT DEATH
Sacred Ground
Succor and Mourn, Console and Comfort
Kindness and Long-suffering

PART III: LIVING AFTER DEATH
Shadows of the Valley of Death
Man, Woman, and Child
A New Reality
Hard Days and Holy Days

PART IV: LEARNING FROM DEATH
Stillness and Revelation
Humility and Submission
Enlargement and Refinement
 
PART V: LIGHT, LOVE, and LIFE OVER DEATH
Remembering, Connectedness, and Covenanting
Ministers and Mentors
Pressing Forward and Enduring Well

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editorial Reviews

"Each grief is unique, as each lost life is, but Melissa Dalton-Bradford is able to speak about her own experience beautifully and precisely while at the same time pointing to the universality of the experience. Some parents lose children. Some children lose parents. Some children lose siblings. Some lose jobs, homes, futures, dreams. We are all suffering grief, and this wonderful book holds you in its arms and comforts for a little while, gently pointing to a bright future that will come if only we will let it in. If you don't know what to say to a loved one who is grieving, buy a copy of this book for you and one for them. Then read and savor and grieve together."
—Mette Harrison, author of Ironmom

From the Publisher

"Each grief is unique, as each lost life is, but Melissa Dalton-Bradford is able to speak about her own experience beautifully and precisely while at the same time pointing to the universality of the experience. Some parents lose children. Some children lose parents. Some children lose siblings. Some lose jobs, homes, futures, dreams. We are all suffering grief, and this wonderful book holds you in its arms and comforts for a little while, gently pointing to a bright future that will come if only we will let it in. If you don't know what to say to a loved one who is grieving, buy a copy of this book for you and one for them. Then read and savor and grieve together."

—Mette Harrison, author ofIronmom

Endorsement