You Are Not Alone: out Now
Welcome to the club.
I’m still here now, all these years later. You don’t leave once you’ve joined; it’s a life membership. Grief eases and changes and returns but it never disappears.
But it will be ok, you will be ok. Somehow you will be.
You are not alone.
When Cariad was just fifteen, her dad died. She became the person-who-dad-had-died, a mess of emotions and questions; a grief-mess.
Years later, she began trying to unravel this tightly wound grief. What had happened? What effect had it all had on who she was? She started Griefcast, the podcast that talks openly, honestly and at times cheerfully about life’s most difficult moment, its end.
Inspired by her own grief mistakes and lessons, and from the profound and witty insights from her incredible guests, including Philippa Perry, Rev. Richard Coles, Isabel Allende, Nish Kumar and Marian Keyes, Cariad provides a road map for all of us. For anybody who has felt lost in grief, who wants to help someone struggling, or just wants to understand this life a little better. You are not alone.
Press
Watch: Channel 4's Ways to Change the World with Krishnan Guru-Murthy
Read: The Guardian article, You will get it wrong … but you can’t make it worse’: 16 ways to talk to people who are grieving
Listen: Off Menu | No Such Thing As A Fish | The Shift
‘In this part memoir, part self-help book, Cariad Lloyd, comedian and host of the award-winning podcast Griefcast, debunks the expectations we have of ourselves and others when it comes to grief … this warm, darkly funny book’s greatest strength is its sense of companionship. It is a shoulder to cry on, letting readers know that whichever way they choose to mourn, it’s OK, and they will be OK. They are not alone’
i PAPER
‘Cariad Lloyd’s warmth, generosity and gentle pragmatism makes her book one of the most reassuring I have read… It is an account of carrying grief and living alongside it, imperfectly…It’s a remarkably enjoyable read … You Are Not Alone is explicitly designed to reassure, to show the reader that while they won’t ‘get over’ their bereavement they will learn to live with it and feel happiness again’
The Spectator
‘Grief: it is unpredictable and funny and sad, and You Are Not Alone captures this beautifully ... It is a blackly funny, honest, thought-provoking and compassionate book that will be of comfort to all who know loss ... Her chapter on modern mourning is fascinating .... There is useful advice on how to talk to someone who is grieving .... Lloyd encourages us to consider our own death in a chapter that is confronting and important. Most of us don't want to think about it, but doing so could make life much easier for our loved ones ... As the chapters progress, we see her teenage irritation and anger soften into a longing to have known him better. I teared up reading the list of questions she has for him ... This is a book with great heart. As cliched as it might sound, you do feel less alone after reading it ... This book helps to break the silence around something we all experience. ''We live, we die. That's it. Isn't it strange and normal? Isn't it awful and ordinary?'' Exactly.’
The Times
Praise for You Are Not Alone
‘This book is a must for the grieving, the soon to be grieving, for those who want to be with others in their grief and, well, EVERYONE, especially all mental health professionals. Full of sense, heart and hope. A book that will hold you… Like the friend you need when you’re grieving’
Philippa Perry
‘It is the secret desire of many artists to make themselves useful and Cariad has achieved just that. A wise, warm and important book’
Robert Webb
‘Cariad has made a hugely needed and safe space for the grieving, myself included, through her Griefcast podcast and now with this stunning book. It’s for those who haven’t made it to the “club” yet too, to understand what their loved ones might be going through. This is a necessary book for all of us, those new to grief, the old hands, or the simply curious to understand. Even though it is about death, it’s a guide book to life’
Aisling Bea
‘This book is a game-changer, a grief companion for our time. Writing for both the head and the heart, Cariad Lloyd describes the disorientation of grief, and the lifelong task of carrying it until it becomes a companion instead of a foe. Practical, kind, honest, generous. Read it before you need to. You can thank me later’