On Smaller Dogs and Larger Life Questions (Hardback)

Coming up to her sixtieth birthday, Kate Figes found herself turning to the larger questions of family, love and life's meaning.

Figes books - which cover issues from new motherhood and adolescence to coupledom and infidelity - testify to her writing as a process of understanding herself and others: so naturally she turned to the page to explore the challenges of becoming sixty.

Then, suddenly, she found herself faced with a horrible, and sudden diagnosis of breast cancer which had metastasised. Instead of a gentle journey into middle age, Kate Figes began to write for her life. Clawing back confidence and control was now not just the ordinary business of these years: it was the only way to try and survive great pain and emotional turmoil.

Her writing became an honest reflection on ageing, failing, regrets and the importance of childhood memory, friends, family and love. Through it she found a new determination to live to the full, discovering ways to face up to a shortened life expectancy with dignity.

Original, passionate, funny and moving, On Smaller Dogs and Larger Life Questions will resonate with anyone dealing with the many griefs and freedoms of midlife. It is about living with a life-threatening disease but more than that it is an intelligent and passionate look at the way we can approach disappointment and trouble, friendship and love anew every day.