Life itself is the major theme of philosopher Gillian Rose's remarkable memoir undertaken when she knew she was dying. Memory, confession, abstract ideas and her candid accounts of her failure in love, feature in a work which is both haunting and utterly matter of fact. Not only does she explore the reality of waiting for death, she also confronts the issue of being female, Jewish, alone, and of the attitudes of others towards illness, while also recalling her Oxford student days and the tutor who once advised: "Remember, girl, all the philosophers you will read are much more intelligent than you are.
Although Rose died shortly after it was published, Love's Work is neither lamentation nor leave taking, but the elegant private journal of a lively, courageous, honest imagination.
