HOW I LOST MY MOTHER, a story of life, care and dying

222pp., paperback, Johannesburg, 2021

"This is an extraordinary memoir: refreshingly candid and self-critical, humorous and wise. It offers a compassionate account of a difficult mother-son relationship and delves deeply into the ethics of care. In his mother’s last years, Leslie hired and worked with her carers to help him look after his mother and in this memoir he documents and honours their work. The book makes an original contribution both to the genre of family memoirs and caring for the dying." G. Thomas Couser, Professor Emeritus of English, Founding Director of the Disability Studies Program, Hofstra University, and author of the memoir, Letter to My Father

'With humour and tenderness Leslie Swartz writes about his late mother, Elsie, telling her life story and describing her with as much loving objectivity as one can have towards a parent. His intimate narrative shows how love is all about ‘losing’ a loved one in multiple ways over and over again. In this compelling memoir he also demonstrates how the important work of caring is too often invisible and goes unrecognised." Colleen Higgs, author of my mother, my madness

Clinical psychologist Leslie Swartz is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Stellenbosch University and author of the memoir Able-Bodied: scenes from a curious life (2010).