The Elements is published today

1 min read

Following the death of her husband to a brain tumour, Kat Lister has published her extraordinary book, The Elements – A Widowhood.

Before it overcame him in 2018, writer and journalist Pat Long attacked his brain tumour with a forensic almost professional curiosity. Our Head of Stakeholder Relations, Hugh Adams, met Pat when he visited our Centre of Excellence at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). Pat wanted to meet and talk with Professor Silvia Marino, whose life’s work has been researching the tumour type that was slowly, and then terrifyingly quickly, taking Pat away from his wife and soul mate Kat Lister.

Hugh spoke with Kat ahead of the launch of her extraordinary book – which has already mesmerised readers of The Sunday Times. You can read the interview on our blog.

Kat said: “Speaking about the viscerality of grief shouldn’t feel like a radical act just because I am younger than most. Although my story is an unconventional narrative, its function here is to say something universal about loss, love, identity and evolution. Themes every reader, regardless of experience, can relate to.”

Hugh said: “This book glides between academic research to the guttural howls of bereavement visiting both the exotic and the mundane and as such is like no other, I have read.”

The Elements is a story of love, pain, hope and, ultimately, transformation. To find more and purchase your copy, visit: https://iconbooks.com/ib-title/the-elements/

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