And Finally

In the contemplation of death Marsh illuminates the gift of life, rendering it even more precious. And Finally has all the candour, elegance and revelation we've come to expect from Marsh. I read it straight through carried along by the force of its prose and the beauty of its ideas. It's a book to treasure and reread; I'm very grateful for it.

Gavin Francis, author of ADVENTURES IN HUMAN BEING and SHAPESHIFTERS

In this superb meditation on life and death, Henry Marsh tackles the matter of mortality with all his trademark wit, wisdom, grace and humility. He turns his formidable intellect and scalpel-sharp prose on himself as well as the medical profession - with marvellous results. Unflinching, profound and deeply humane, And Finally is magnificent.

Rachel Clarke, author of DEAR LIFE

And Finally is a close and courageous look at the prospect of death by someone who has seen it more clearly and more often than most of us, and who writes with great fluency and grace. Henry Marsh is a great neurosurgeon: he is also a very fine writer. I admire this book enormously.

Philip Pullman, author of HIS DARK MATERIALS

Who better to ponder immortality, the threshold between states, fear, regret and what gives us meaning, than somebody who has lived a life constantly in-between. We should give thanks to Marsh, who despite facing his own mortality, allows us to come along for this poignant and vivid journey.

Molly Case, author of HOW TO TREAT PEOPLE

Vividly wry and honest... this slender, elegant book... is very much a memoir of enlightenment; the humbling, late in life, of a man of great skill and status... A wise and warm narrator, and his book will bring comfort to many - and educate doctors.

Melanie Reid, The Times

Beautifully written... A thoughtful journey into his experience as a doctor-turned-patient, enlivened with a wonderful black humour and a gimlet eye for comforting nonsense... One couldn't wish for a better guide.

Steven Poole, Daily Telegraph, 5 stars

Henry Marsh may have retired from medicine but let's hope he keeps producing books as good as this one, which enthral as well as teach.

Observer

[And Finally] is unexpectedly fun, and the author is pretty much irresistibly likeable... diagnoses and remissions are described with wonderful candour... [and Marsh's] discussion of end-of-life care and assisted dying is the best essay I have read on the subject.

Guardian

[Marsh is] deeply reflective, the result is a bit like sitting in the pub with the smartest person you know.

Spectator

Brilliant... [a] ruminative, magisterial, self-questioning, poignant, funny and slightly bonkers memoir.

Mail on Sunday

A beautifully written collection of memories, thoughts and life lessons... And Finally will no doubt prompt others to contemplate their own existence and, more importantly, recognise what is truly worth living for.

Financial Times

[A] fascinating unusually revelatory, ultimately conflicted and poignant account.

Times Literary Supplement

Marsh... writes with appealing candour about his reluctance to investigate his own symptoms... [and he] is often drily funny.

Literary Review

A surprisingly entertaining, informative report on what happens when an eminent neurosurgeon suddenly becomes the frightened patient... This is a valuable book from the front line of ageing. It may be called And Finally - that slightly droll tone is typical - and it may suggest a closing down, but its gift is open-handedness, a wise and Janus-like looking forward and back.

Kathleen Jamie, New Statesman

An outstanding writer.

Lancet

Marsh shares his journey with a dark yet whimsical humour, and ponders too the eternal mysteries of time.

Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year

A haunting memoir from someone who has spent a career at the fragile border between life and death, now confronting the prospect of his own crossing.

Financial Times, Books of the Year

The ever-candid neurosurgeon Henry Marsh describes what it felt like, after a cancer diagnosis, to become part of "the underclass of patients", losing his status as a godlike doctor. He is also grimly humorous about what cancer treatment did to him.

The Times, Books of the Year

No man deserves recognition more than Henry Marsh, surgeon, humanitarian and author.

Oldie

As ever he writes beautifully, his interest in the human body and mind as hummingly alive as ever.

Metro, Best Non-Fiction of 2022

His dignified introspection is a joy.

Clare Chambers, author of SMALL PLEASURES