The Last Caravan is Here! On Choosing a Cover

Just in time for my birthday yesterday, and Mary's birthday tomorrow, the first copies of The Last Caravan shipped this week. Mary and I were born 20 years and 2 days apart, and after working on this story for more than four years, the timing of its arrival seems serendipitous.

A little about the cover…When Mary talked about wanting her dying process to be supported by Jules, Laurie and I—her dying team—and her desire that we share what were learning about community deathcare with others, one of the refrains she often repeated was “It’s not about me, it’s about us.” The us was not only the dying team or even her family and friends, but a broader, inclusive term that embraced humanity. At its heart, her story is about people, and the amazing things that can happen when people come together. 

Mary spent her life in community. After leaving home at the age of 17 to live among the Guna of Panama, she lived and worked in dozens of post-conflict countries around the world, including Guatemala, Bosnia, Zambia, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. She was profoundly impacted by the communities that welcomed her: Indigenous families who shared their homes, queer chosen family, and anyone who loved a good party. She was fascinated by culture and inspired by humanity even in the harshest environments. She was shaped by feminism and activism, and was committed to social justice. She lived her life trying to honour her relationships with others and with the earth.

When I first mulled over ideas for the cover of The Last Caravan, I consider a single photo of Mary. Before the idea was fully formed in my head, I heard a sharp “No!,” followed by Mary’s voice repeating that phrase: “It’s not about me, it’s about us.” 

This cover—its gorgeous depiction of the diversity and unity of the human body and spirit—represents Mary’s story. It symbolizes the many faces of age, ability, gender, race and culture that meet the ordinary, sacred and unknown together. It’s a reminder that living and dying in community should be available to everyone. It’s a remembrance that it’s about all of us.

A huge thank you to Kat Pankowska (@projectsbykat) for creating this image of beauty and for incorporating some rainbow :)

If you have friends, book clubs or other folks you think would find meaning in the story, I’d be grateful if you shared it. Please reach out if you’d like a free virtual reading for a book club or other group. For more regular updates, find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/anna.byrne.94617

The Last Caravan: The Power of Community at the End of Life

Facing a terminal diagnosis, Mary Morgan asks three friends to be her “dying team.” Over 16 months, until her death with Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), the team curates a death steeped in beauty, ceremony, and practical support through building a casket, home vigil, and green burial. The journey to bring tenderness to one person’s suffering becomes an antidote to urgency and loneliness. The Last Caravan offers a new paradigm for deathcare by returning it to the community.