The Wrong Order of Things: Children are not supposed to die
Michelle Hills

People rarely talk about dying but there is a deep unspoken belief that everyone expects to die before their children, to bury their parents but not their offspring. However, death is a certainty that faces us all and tragically children are not immune to that fate.

‘The Wrong Order of Things: Children are not supposed to die’ is a heart-breaking yet heart-warming compilation of anonymised stories about children who will or have died early. The beautifully crafted tales provide a compassionate insight into the complicated subject of all the facets of children’s palliative care: facing a diagnosis, living with uncertainty and hope, through to death and bereavement. It is made accessible and relevant to everyone, by an experienced specialist paediatric palliative medicine consultant, palliative care educator and hospice Chief Medical Officer.

Even in our modern world, children tragically die. All lives, however short, deserve meaning, quality and a peaceful, dignified end surrounded by the love of their family. Never before has there been a book telling these children's short-lived, precious stories. Once the book is opened you will be taken on a journey you did not realise you wanted to go on, a walk into a world no one should ever have to experience for themselves, a world that occasionally rises out of the news headlines in sensational ways but actually is more common than people think. You will cry but you will also smile and find laughter, joy and love.

Drawing out important themes and life lessons, these precious children teach us all about facing bad news, dying, grieving, supporting the bereaved but most of all they remind us to live and to live well. They teach us to support those around us and they remind us to be both honest and kind. They teach us to talk about dying.