Sarah Perry | Death of an Ordinary Man

When David Perry died at home just nine days after a cancer diagnosis, his daughter-in-law Sarah Perry came to understand, with devastating clarity, that “there are no ordinary lives.” In Death of an Ordinary Man, the award-winning, Booker-longlisted and internationally bestselling novelist turns her luminous attention to the raw, minute-by-minute reality of dying – what happens to the body and spirit as death approaches, and what it means to care for someone you love at the end of their life.

As David’s illness outstrips the speed of the NHS and social care system, Sarah and her husband find themselves doing the nursing, witnessing everything: panic, tenderness, disorientation, exhaustion, and unexpected moments of light. Part reportage, part memoir, and part urgent reflection on the structural conditions of dying in the UK, this is a profoundly moving testament to one man’s life and to the courage and intimacy of caregiving. Experience Sarah’s event from our Spring 2026 Festival with broadcaster Alex Clark for a rare and deeply humane conversation about death, love, and the strange beauty that can accompany the end of life.