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Sophie's memoir remembers son Felix, six years on

 

A new book by SUDEP Action supporter Sophie Pierce is a moving account of the loss of her 20-year-old son Felix. 

Felix died of SUDEP in 2017; he was a student at the University of Leicester at the time. Sophie's book, entitled The Green Hill: Letters to a Son, contains letters which Sophie wrote to Felix after his death, as well as a narrative which weaves in the story of his life, and what happened in the aftermath. It is a book about grief, but also the role the natural landscape can play in healing.

 Sophie hopes the book will be helpful to others, and also that it might raise the profile of SUDEP. She said: “Grief is something we all experience. Loss is a part of daily life, and I hope that in sharing my experience, others might find perspective and perhaps even comfort. It would also be wonderful if the book could help more people to know about SUDEP, and its devastating impact on families." 

The book is illustrated by Sophie's husband and Felix's father, Alex Murdin, and contains drawings of many locations around their home in Devon. The ‘Green Hill’ of the title refers to a natural burial ground, Sharpham Meadow, where Felix rests, which is in a beautiful location overlooking the River Dart estuary.  Sophie has found nature an enormous solace, and particular places have started to assume greater significance in her life, as part of creating rituals to remember her son by. 

Alex says places can have great emotional power in our lives.
“Landscapes hold on to our memories - that was the place we went swimming, here the children rolled down the hill, or threw snowballs. So for me, by drawing them, these places become sort of memorials, without having put up bits of stone or bronze.”

 The book is published by Unbound (March 2nd) and is available in bookshops as well as to buy online from the usual websites including bookshop.org which benefits independent bookshops: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-green-hill-letters-to-a-son-sophie-pierce/7351848?ean=9781800181809