I read this book as I was in Hospice at one point, and I wanted to see how well the book portrayed everything that happens. I will say that everything was on point. This book gives you an inside look into Hospice and how much they help the patients live out their days. I am thankfully better and turned for the better, but a lot of people who enter Hospice don't have the same outcome. I will recommend this book to anyone especially if they know someone considering Hospice.

Ann Richardson has written a great book if you're hoping to hear the diverse voices of hospice workers.
Ann's voice is in the background.
Most of the text is made up of hospice workers who share their experiences.
The book is grouped in themes to bring cohesion.

Sometimes it feels like a semi-random assortment of quotes or more like a compendium or anthology of hospice opinions rather than one coherent point of view.

Overall, it's an excellent book for anyone who expects to die one day. ;)

Nothing is easy for a hospice household, and I feel those choosing to serve in this field are a godsend to the family. I selected this book to gain insight into what makes a person choose hospice care for a career. Learning much, I truly enjoyed the peek into the attitudes of those interviewed. Kudos to Richardson for putting together a selection of interviews containing the motivations and the challenges of this calling. Focused and convincing, I recommend this book to anyone contemplating or engaged in hospice care, both families and prospective health professionals.

It's a good, informative, reflective book on end of life care. All the best to the author. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I found it an insightful, well-written book which documented experiences of various people involved in hospice work. It gave me an understanding of how hospice care works and how dedicated the staff are.

I was then inspired to read the author's book on Aids which has recently been republished.

Three and a half star rating.
Informative, with contributions from people who work or have dealings with these wonderful places. Dealing with all aspects of hospices. Ensuring that no one need fear of either sending a relative or going into one in their final days or weeks.

My 5* review for Life In A Hospice: Reflections On Caring For The Dying by Ann Richardson. I received the kindle version of Life In a Hospice in a Netgalley read and review request by the Author, and I am so pleased I did.

This book subtitled Reflections On Caring For The Dying is a lovely moving collection of stories written by people in all walks of the end of life care profession, varying from healthcare assistants, nurses, doctors, chaplains and even a chef! They all had stories to share, experiences to be learnt from and knowledge and advice to pass on, and I was moved and overwhelmed at times by the care, compassion and honesty they portrayed. They all do such a wonderful job (which truly is a vocation) that it is so easy to forget they are human beings too and as much as they try to stay strong for the patients and relatives, they have their own lives to live too and I am sure some of them take their work home with them in their thoughts most nights.

Not many of us want to think about our death at any point in our life, but for those who are in the process of dying, it can be a wonderful thing to be given a chance of a new experience of living, and this book definitely shows that a Hospice is not necessarily a place to go to die, but to live in a different way. This book is also an educational tool and explains the difference between hospice and hospital care, how to prepare yourself and others for the actual death itself, as well as dealing with the patient and their relatives afterwards.

Ann Richardson in this amazing book truly demonstrates the wondrous gift of a good death and shows end of life care at its best.

This book is a real eye-opener as the vast majority of people do not realize what happens in the hospices, they just know it’s a place for people who are going to pass soon. Thoughtful and well-researched book .I just love how the author tells the story through interviews of nurses and all the staff working at the hospice.

This is a thoughtful and well-researched book that examines all aspects of hospice care - from the practicalities of what happens to the feelings and thoughts of staff.
The author has interviewed staff in hospices from a chef to nurses and social workers. She really lets them tell the story through parts of their interviews.
This has the advantage of really giving the power and voice to the staff, but the reason I’ve given this four stars and not five is that it did make me feel a little like I was reading a research paper and the style dampened my sense of the emotion a little, for me. I fully recognise, however, that this book will be so important for others - especially those with experience of hospices.
However, it is a brave book - not afraid to confront both the sadness and the opportunity that comes from working with people at the end of their lives. I would recommend it to anyone who really wants to understand hospice life and what a good death really means.

As a hospice volunteer, I well know the beauty that can occur at the end of life. This book is a beautifully written and thoughtful explanation of much of what occurs in a hospice. The advice is helpful for us all whether we are dealing with the death of a loved one or seeking knowledge about our own passing. Recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was probably a great time for me to read this book with my grandmother having just passed. It shows how these silent hero's care for those that are dying and how they realize no matter what it is never easy.

"Life in a Hospice: Reflections on Caring for the Dying" by Ann Richardson will be interesting to many of us. Caretakers everywhere would benefit from reading this book. There are so many reasons out there to want palliative care for yourself or you loved one. This book really opens our eyes and helps us to understand some of the many things that affect hospice care. If you are thinking of quality care for "end of life" situations either for yourself or someone you love, this may be a book you want to peruse to see some of the considerations to think about. It would be an excellent resource for anyone thinking of getting into this kind of job. I highly recommend this book to all who are looking for information and answers on this topic.

End of life care is a topic that doesn’t tend to come up in everyday conversations, no one wants to think about how they are going to end their days but for some people that is the reality, they live every day. Ann Richardson sits down with 31 real people who work in two different hospices within the UK, from the head nurse, head of hospice, chef, Chaplin, nurses, therapists and doctors.

The vast majority of people do not realise what happens in the hospices, they just know it’s a place for people who are going to pass soon. We get to see the range of things staff have to deal with on a day to day basis. The staff deal with the patients in their care but also deal with their relatives and friends, no one deals with death and grief the same but the staff have to manage these.

The book is a real eye-opener and is a must for people who are thinking they might want to work in a hospice, we get to understand the highs and lows of everyday life in the hospice and how the staff cope and the impact they have.

Being a nurse I come up against death and dying,you have to be a special kind of person to work in a hospice.

This was a very good read. I didnt realize that Hospice care did so much. I must admit, when I hear the word "hospice", I think someone is going there to die. This book lets you know that so much more is done at this type of faciltiy. The breakdown of the book is also very interesting. We hear from people in different roles as well as the families of what goes on in hospice. I always thought there were certain jobs that take special people to do and this is one of them. Thank you to all that work to make one's possible final days one filled with care, dignity and pain controlled. I will no longer look at a hospice faciltiy the same again. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.