Love's Work

by Gillian Rose · 1995

Love's Work is a lyrical memoir and philosophical meditation written by the English thinker Gillian Rose as she faced terminal cancer. In a candid, unsentimental voice she confronts mortality, love, friendship, sex, illness and death, weaving personal stories of childhood, dyslexia, family divorce, Jewish identity and the lives of friends also confronting death. Rose seeks to bridge the mind and heart, proposing that love’s work is the obligation to keep thinking and caring despite inevitable defeat. The book blends memoir, essay, and philosophical inquiry, offering a tender yet rigorous survival kit for living and loving.