When Ilka Piepgras is taken by surprise by her neighbour’s death, she feels helpless and speechless. And she realises she doesn’t want to encounter death unprepared a second time. A wish that becomes all the more pressing, the older her parents get. Ilka Piepgras, outstanding author of Zeit Magazin, ultimately takes the decision to train as a spiritual carer for the dying.
How to die well – that is the question she continually asks herself when faced with the people she accompanies on their last journey. The encounters with the dying change her perspective on life and leads to surprising conversations with friends, children and her parents. When she tells her father about her work, he is delighted: ‘Lovely. Now we can finally talk about dying.’ And Ilka Piepgras talks about this in her book too. The result is a very personal, clever and artfully written report about dying – and life.
