Peter CostelloIrish Hospice Foundation, €20.00/£18.00
Sponsored by some seven organisations and businesses, this book was created to raise funds for the Irish Hospice Foundation. As a fund raising venture readers will wish it all success, for the hospice movement is one that affects us all. This book is a collection of experiences about the Irish life home and away, interwoven with reflections by more literary figures. These are not just about identity and life, but about completion. Bono, for instance, contributes a poem and a drawing reflection on the passing of his father. Thus death finds it place as a stage in the natural cycle of life, not as something separate ñ indeed mors janua vitae. This is a richly varied book, both amusing and serious. The illustrations too are evocative of many facets of life as a whole. Every reader will find something here that echoes their own experience, but also read of things they may never have considered.