Author Mary Loudon lost her sister Catherine to cancer in 2001. When Catherine died, the two sisters had not seen each other for 12 years. Catherine suffered from schizophrenia and had cut herself off from the rest of her family. She had told the hospital staff that she had no next of kin and so it was almost two weeks before Mary and her relatives learnt that she had died.
In her new book Relative Stranger, Mary goes on a quest to meet the people Catherine had been in contact with during her last years, to find out what her sister's life had been like. In the process she has to come to terms with some startling revelations, as well as face head-on the impact of her sister's mental illness.
Martha talks to Mary Loudon about her sister and why writing the book was so important to her.
Relative Stranger: A Life After Death by Mary Loudon, Canongate Books, ISBN: 1841956759 |
