Three essays, three deaths. The first is the death of the author's mother, a protracted disappearance, leaving space for thoughtfulness and ritual: the washing of her body, the making of a death mask. The second considers the author's father, his remoteness, his charm, a lacuna at the centre of the family even before his death, earlier than her mother's. And then, the shocking death of the author's sister, a visual artist and writer living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, who writes three reasons to die on her bedroom wall and then takes her life.

(From Coach House Books)

Martha Baillie is a Toronto-based author. Her novel The Incident Report was on the 2009 Giller Prize longlist and is being made into a film. Her other books include Sister Language and The Search for Heinrich Schlögel.