Lu Spinney was born in Cape Town and spent her childhood on a farm in the Midlands of KwaZulu–Natal, later moving with her family to the Indian Ocean coast north of Durban. After university, she left South Africa to live in Nice and Paris, before settling in London.
“Like The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, Beyond the High
Blue Air is a spare, sharp memoir about the speed with which a
comfortable existence can be blighted by grief.” —Bee Wilson, The
Sunday Times
"Through her close observations and beautiful words, Spinney makes
the reader understand vividly what life was like, for Miles and for
her. Beyond the High Blue Air is wholly a mother’s story, written
with passion, anger, grief and great love." —Laurie Hertzel, The
Star Tribune
"A painful account made beautiful by Spinney’s poignant details and
tender insight." —Booklist
“Lu Spinney has a tragic story to tell. The circumstances are
unique. But what she expresses—disbelief, hope, anger, dismay—is
universal. And the ethical questions she raises are vitally
important. Most important, she writes beautifully.”—Blake Morrison,
author of And When Did You Last See Your Father?
“This book is a work of the highest literary skill and heroic
courage born out of what for most would be unendurable, and wholly
silencing, maternal pain. To read it is to feel, sympathetically,
both that pain and admiration for the woman who has written so
eloquently through it.”—John Sutherland, author of The Boy Who
Loved Books
“Spinney describes her son’s harrowing final years from a uniquely
maternal perspective, weighing the appalling ambiguities of his
situation with a sensitivity and respect for both the person he was
and the person he has become.”—Wendy Moore, The Literary Review
“Impossible to read this eloquent, heart–breakingly well–written
record of a mother’s loss without realizing that the people you
love are all also standing on the precipice edge Lu Spinney
describes so well.” —Francis Spufford, author of Golden Hill
"Beyond the High Blue Air explores the limits of medical science
and searches for the unlimited potential of human compassion."
—Forward Reviews (starred review)
“Lu Spinney’s beautifully written memoir is a powerful testament of
personal grief and a ferocious critique of the way our society
deals with suffering and death.”—Jane Shilling, Daily Mail
(London)
“Spinney’s eye is unflinching and she spares us nothing.”—Cathy
Rentzenbrink, The Times (London)
“A memoir written about a son's tragic accident and subsequent
death is not destined to be an easy read. It's not easy because
readers will be able to identify with the author's journey as her
son is first in a coma, then in a fluid state of consciousness,
until eventually death. A compassionate, raw and intimate journey
that no one ever chooses to embark on, but one in which the
landmarks must be discussed.”—Marika Zemke, Librarian, Commerce
Township Public Library
“Every mother’s nightmare—Lu receives a call that her 29 year old
son has been seriously injured in a snowboarding accident. She is
in England, and she and the rest of the family hurry to the
hospital in Innsbruck where doctors are trying to save his life. Is
it possible that the adventurous young man with the Oxford degree
will come back to them? Is this what Miles would have wanted? How
many actually have an advance directive to make things easier if
the unthinkable happens? Intense and at times painful to read, this
memoir is reminiscent of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical
Thinking.”—Linda Tilden, Librarian, Mt Laurel Public Library
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