Love, Death and Other Scenes

Nova Weetman is perhaps the most beloved and accomplished young adult and middle grade author in Australia; I've had the pleasure of meeting her in person (spoiler: she's lovely), and I feel an additional connection through my late friend Sandra Eterović, who provided cover illustrations for several of Nova's books. But Love, Death and Other Scenes is not a middle grade novel; it's an adult memoir about the death of her partner, playwright Aidan Fennessy.

Aidan's final illness and death was complicated by the fact that it happened during Covid lockdowns. They chose to keep Aidan at home in the last stages because, under Covid restrictions, if he'd been cared for in hospital, their children wouldn't have been able to see him. But this decision came at a cost for Nova, who became his nurse and carer, perhaps at the expense of being his intimate partner at the end. She is painfully frank about this experience and I'm sure it's a situation that many others can relate to.

Nova's judgement as a writer is always exquisite. In her children's books, she often tackles difficult topics, but she handles them with such a light touch that a young reader won't be overwhelmed. The same is true here; though the material is often heart-breaking, she never wallows, never agonises, as a lesser writer might have been tempted to do. This restraint makes this memoir all the more powerful. Another writer friend is going through the same awful experience with her husband at the moment, and my heart ached for both of them as I read.

The book is divided into three sections: Love is about their relationship, Death -- well, that's self-explanatory; and Other Scenes talks about the aftermath, grief, and the family's life without Aidan. It's also a very Melbourne book; Nova lives just on the other side of the creek from me, and I could see the streets of her suburb in my mind as I read. This is a beautiful, painful, warm and loving book, and it made me want to give Nova a big hug.