Before the Light Fades: A Family Story of Resistance
Natasha Walter's mother took her own life in December 2017. In this memoir, Natasha explores her personal response to grief, and traces her family legacy of political resistance.
'Walter's wise, thoughtful memoir is both deeply affecting and unexpectedly inspiring. A fascinating story of courage, doubt and defiance across three generations, it's the perfect read for daunting times.' ― Sarah Waters
'An eloquent, piercing, gloriously humane memoir on the wonders of life in the most difficult of moments. It touched me very much.' ― Philippe Sands
'A fierce and beautiful book,' - Edmund de Waal
'An important and beautiful memoir about how a daughter's feelings for the loss of her beloved mother changes and evolves through grief... dark, painful but also illuminating and healing.' ― Julia Samuel
'Deeply passionate and humane... [a] compelling reconstruction of her mother's life as a young anti-nuclear activist defying her suburban parents... Walter writes powerfully in the book's conclusion about the current challenges facing refugees to the UK,' Catherine Taylor, Financial Times
'Heartfelt and upfront... A grieving daughter rediscovers her mother's political past,' Blake Morrison, The Guardian
'Truly fascinating... A powerful reminder that our actions really do matter,' Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times
'This is a potent book... Walter spreads it out before us with great tenderness, exquisite writing, clear eyes and an open heart,' Louisa Young, Perspective
'A book about sadness and memory and the attempts people make to come to terms with overwhelming pain... provides an interesting contrast between the feminist issues that ran through her mother's life and those that have determined her own,' Caroline Moorehead, Times Literary Supplement
'In this succinct and deeply serious memoir, Natasha relives the days and weeks after her mother's death... the book demonstrates fascinatingly is how children react against their parents,' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Daily Mail
'An examination, both glancing and gripping, of [her mother's] life... Walter's familiarity with the displaced and fearful makes her a gentle chronicler of the lives of her grandparents,' Claudia Fitzherbert, Literary Review
'Walter writes brilliantly about how little a child knows about their parents, and uncovers Ruth's life as the daughter of Jews who fled persecution, and became a Sixties' activist. This is unflinchingly honest: the best book I have read this year,' The Tablet
'In the course of deeply pondering her mother's legacy, Walter does indeed find meaning, though it's bitter and hard won... The light may well be fading, she concedes; the challenge is to make your stand all the same,' Spectator
Natasha Walter's mother took her own life in December 2017. In this memoir, Natasha explores her personal response to grief, and traces her family legacy of political resistance.
'Walter's wise, thoughtful memoir is both deeply affecting and unexpectedly inspiring. A fascinating story of courage, doubt and defiance across three generations, it's the perfect read for daunting times.' ― Sarah Waters
'An eloquent, piercing, gloriously humane memoir on the wonders of life in the most difficult of moments. It touched me very much.' ― Philippe Sands
'A fierce and beautiful book,' - Edmund de Waal
'An important and beautiful memoir about how a daughter's feelings for the loss of her beloved mother changes and evolves through grief... dark, painful but also illuminating and healing.' ― Julia Samuel
'Deeply passionate and humane... [a] compelling reconstruction of her mother's life as a young anti-nuclear activist defying her suburban parents... Walter writes powerfully in the book's conclusion about the current challenges facing refugees to the UK,' Catherine Taylor, Financial Times
'Heartfelt and upfront... A grieving daughter rediscovers her mother's political past,' Blake Morrison, The Guardian
'Truly fascinating... A powerful reminder that our actions really do matter,' Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times
'This is a potent book... Walter spreads it out before us with great tenderness, exquisite writing, clear eyes and an open heart,' Louisa Young, Perspective
'A book about sadness and memory and the attempts people make to come to terms with overwhelming pain... provides an interesting contrast between the feminist issues that ran through her mother's life and those that have determined her own,' Caroline Moorehead, Times Literary Supplement
'In this succinct and deeply serious memoir, Natasha relives the days and weeks after her mother's death... the book demonstrates fascinatingly is how children react against their parents,' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Daily Mail
'An examination, both glancing and gripping, of [her mother's] life... Walter's familiarity with the displaced and fearful makes her a gentle chronicler of the lives of her grandparents,' Claudia Fitzherbert, Literary Review
'Walter writes brilliantly about how little a child knows about their parents, and uncovers Ruth's life as the daughter of Jews who fled persecution, and became a Sixties' activist. This is unflinchingly honest: the best book I have read this year,' The Tablet
'In the course of deeply pondering her mother's legacy, Walter does indeed find meaning, though it's bitter and hard won... The light may well be fading, she concedes; the challenge is to make your stand all the same,' Spectator