Novelist Sarah Perry has released an audiobook memoir, Death of an Ordinary Man, chronicling the final days of her father-in-law, David. The retired chemist from Norwich died just nine days after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer at the age of 77.
The memoir opens with a day trip to Great Yarmouth in summer 2022, where David, seemingly healthy, gleefully eats four hot doughnuts. Perry reveals him as an unassuming man who enjoys Yorkshire Tea, bad jokes, sudoku, and watching Antiques Roadshow. But from the start, she notes his death was only weeks away.
The audiobook, narrated by actor Lydia Leonard, details the physical and psychological changes in David, the care from doctors and carers, and the relentless form-filling. Perry takes the common experience of terminal illness and elevates it to something extraordinary, offering a moving and sharply observed account of a life ending too quickly.
Though David’s death is devastating for his loved ones, Perry’s narrative helps listeners understand the unfathomable. The book is a required listen for those navigating the realities of terminal illness.
