A memoir about Andy

“One of the saddest things I’ve ever read but also the most powerful. It’s made me want to cling tight to the people I love while acknowledging their mortality and mine too.” Marian Keyes
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“Fantastic book, full of beautiful honesty on such a dark subject.” Rio Ferdinand

Andy died just 41 days after another death in his family, of his father-in-law. His widow, Catherine Mayer, and her mother Anne were then locked down alone. Their profound isolation was broken just once a week, when Catherine visited Anne to care for her, at distance and in a mask.

In this memoir, Catherine tells the story of those strange times, and of three decades with Andy. She also investigates the possibility that he contracted Covid-19 when Gang of Four toured China in late 2019. The paperback edition, published in 2022, includes a new chapter, about a dispute that roiled Gang of Four before Andy’s death and continued to play out in the turbulent aftermath. We reproduce that chapter in full below, with the permission of Catherine and her publisher.

Good Grief: Embracing Life at a Time of Death by Catherine Mayer and Anne Mayer Bird is published by HQ / HarperCollins. For more information, click here.