When Joan Didion’s husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, died of a massive heart attack, the shock affected her in ways she could never have imagined. Despite Dunne’s history of heart trouble, she had not prepared herself for his death at all. Although she was outwardly composed after it happened (the hospital social worker described her as “a cool customer”), her calmness was belied by small details, including the fact that when asked where she lived, she gave the address at which she and Dunne had been when first married, 40 years before. Didion describes grief as “the most general of afflictions”, but although many have experienced it, few have articulated it as well as she does in this profound, moving and beautifully written memoir of a year spent trying to cope with loss. As gradually becomes clear, her grief was compounded by the illness of her daughter, who at the time of Dunne’s death was lying unconscious in another hospital with septic shock. In an attempt to make sense of what happened Didion instinctively turned to literature — from poetry and novels (including her own and her husband’s) to medical studies and other professional works. Some of these proved useless, such as the self-help guides that advise the mourner not to spend the insurance money on redecorating the living room. But Didion takes comfort in language, and The Year of Magical Thinking is, above all, a testament to the power of the written word to give meaning to events and emotions that might otherwise defy understanding.

THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion

(Harper Perennial £7.99)

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