Leicester author's book inspired by loss of husband

Sarah said her husband mark became ill in 2012

An author has described how the death of her husband, two weeks after their marriage, inspired her to write a book about loss.

Sarah Tarlow, a professor of archaeology at the University of Leicester, wrote the book following the death of her husband Mark, in May 2016.

Prof Tarlow described her husband's death, at 63, as an "extraordinary act of courage and love".

Her book The Archaeology of Loss will be published this week by Picador.

She said her husband - a fellow academic at the university - had taken his own life after learning he had a form of encephalomyelitis, probably autoimmune.

Autoimmune encephalomyelitis is a group of rare neurological conditions in which the immune system attacks the brain.

"He started to get symptoms and have abnormal scans in around 2012, about four years before his death," Prof Tarlow said.

"I wasn't prepared at all for the difficult and drawn-out experience of Mark's illness and early death.

"One of my strongest emotional responses was anger - the anger I felt about how Mark had to die and why he had to do this on his own.

"It was his rational response to having a condition from which he would never get better but I wasn't given an option to support him in his decision."

Sarah said she hoped her husband would be proud of the book

In her memoir, Archaeology of Loss: life, love and the art of dying, she touches on topics including assisted dying, relationships between the living and the dead, sacrifice, and rituals around death, as well as her personal experience of loss.

She said: "I hope it's a thoughtful book that explores issues and ideas though it is held together with an honest personal history.

"I'm immensely proud to have written a piece of literature and to have given Mark's death some form of purpose.

"I hope he would be proud of the book I've put together."

Publisher Gillian Fitzgerald-Kelly, from Picador, said: "It's a rare thing to read a book that moves you in such a delicate and yet powerful way."

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