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This is a book about Covid-19 as it happened, with all the fear, horror, losses, grief, chaos, revelations, frustrations and sheer heroism. It is also a book about the future - what we learned and didn't learn; what we hoped for when the lockdowns eased and we could believe there could be a future. It is a vivid, sometimes distressing, often uplifting and powerfully moving account of a nation's journey through a nightmare, told in the words of individuals describing their own and others' experiences and how they and their families and communities coped. We hear stories from many perspectives: the bereaved; the frontline workers; those still battling the long and disabling tail of the virus; the marginalised and vulnerable; the children and young people. These are voices that are rarely heard, talking of small acts of generosity, courage, private suffering and quiet endurance. Alongside, expert commentaries draw the themes together and offer further reading and resources. So many of us swore we would learn from the pandemic. This book will help us do so.
Introduction
1. On the frontline – with commentary by Liz Rothschild
2. We are not all in the same boat – with commentary by Patrick Vernon OBE
3. Torn apart – with commentary by Lynne Gabriel and John Wilson
4. Our future – with commentary by Jo Holmes
5. Long Covid – with commentary by Lesley Macniven and Kodama Allende
6. Emerging – with commentary by Liz Rothschild
The storytellers
The artists
‘In this short compendium, Liz Rothschild has accomplished the remarkable. In account after account, the myriad voices of Covid loss, loneliness and lessons learned rise from the page. Remarkable in its plainspoken eloquence and critical commentary, this book captures the panoramic impact of the global crisis as revealed in the lives of the healthcare workers, teachers, immigrants, youth and families who have “weathered the storm”. I recommend it to anyone compassionate, curious or concerned enough to dive deeply into the experience of trauma and resilience, tissues in hand, and open to cultivating a fuller humanity.’
Robert A. Neimeyer, editor of The Handbook of Grief Therapies and Director, Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, US
‘The Covid pandemic is already becoming the subject of much reinterpretation over time. Covid is now the stuff of myths and legends for politicians and scientists in their autobiographies and books, and there is a lot of revisionism too. This is why the accounts in this book of ‘ordinary people’ whose voices have gone largely unheard are invaluable. Looking forward, the real challenge is to ensure our parliament commits to new legislation that will rebuild and reinstate services to safeguard the public health against future pandemics.’
Allyson Pollock, clinical professor of public health, Newcastle University, and former member of Independent SAGE
‘This important book reminds us that the deaths caused by Covid pandemic were not simply a national tragedy and a scandalising testimony to incompetent and corrupt government; most of all, they were deeply personal instances of love and loss. We need texts like this to tell the truth about the pandemic.’
Mick McKeown, professor of democratic mental health and member of Unison’s National Nursing and Midwifery Sector Committee
Liz Rothschild is a writer, actor, playwright and founding director of Westmill woodland burial ground in Wiltshire. She has been a funeral celebrant for more than 25 years and has run numerous death cafes and a course on preparing for end of life. In 2012 she launched, and continues to curate, the Kicking the Bucket festival in Oxford. She also wrote and performs a one-woman show, Outside the Box – a life show about death, which premiered in 2016 and has toured the UK and US. Many of these stories come from her audiences.
