Late Fragments

‘The most honest, beautiful, heart wrenching and eye opening book I’ve ever read. I will keep reminding myself of Kate Gross’s words and her story’ Fearne Cotton

‘Raw, honest, yet unexpectedly positive … A warm and oddly uplifting read. Gross is funny in the darkest moments of truth. Neither falsely upbeat nor purposefully dramatic or tear-jerking, the book brings Gross to life’ Independent

‘Shows you how to live life to the brim … boy, does [Kate’s] writing have pulse. Clear-sighted and cold-eyed, her sentences are light as leaves and she was as wise as a magi … When [her twins] wonder about their mother, here she will be, bold and brave, caught on the page in all her wonderful vitality’ Mail on Sunday, 5

‘This book could make you rethink the way you live your whole life … there is a sense of wonder, a determination to live and love with her whole heart in the little time [Gross] has left … Funny and sharp and celebratory’ Sunday Express, 5

‘A joyful act of love … witty, always serious, but rarely solemn. Her prose is grounded, unshowy and blessed with a casual poetry … To read this book is to learn what can be snatched back from death … it is vividly, beautifully alive’ Robert Webb, New Statesman

‘It is extremely difficult to write on this subject evocatively, but without sentimentality … [Kate] treats herself as a case study, a bystander with a story to tell. The effect is readable, engaging and enriching … To do that as your final act is amazing’ Daily Telegraph 5

‘Gross writes with steadfast, exquisite skill and although this remarkable book is hard to get through without a box of hankies, it is also one of the most galvanising you are likely to read all year – READ IT AND LEAP’ Metro

‘With her lucid prose and piercing perception she is as much of a loss to the world of literature as she is to politics … Should be mandatory reading for every adult, urging them to fight the human impulse to take life in all its richness for granted’ Daily Express 5

Kate Gross was 36 years old when she died from colon cancer on Christmas day at her home in Cambridge. Before her cancer, Kate read English at Oxford University. She joined the civil service and worked in Number 10 Downing Street for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. On leaving, she set up the Africa Governance Initiative, a charity which works to rebuild structures of Government in post-conflict Africa. She was awarded an OBE in 2014 for her work. She is survived by her husband Billy and their five year old sons Isaac and Oscar.