Love, Interrupted

'In this incredibly moving must-read, Simon shares his journey through immense grief and pain, and shows us how hope can spring from the darkest of times' Fearne Cotton

In November 2017, Simon Thomas's life was thrown into turmoil. His wife, Gemma, died suddenly from acute myleloid leukaemia. Left to care for their young son, Ethan, on his own, he resigned from Sky Sports, and put all his efforts into helping them both through the most difficult year of their lives. In 2019 he published the first edition of this book, in which – with searing honesty – he recounted that first year of loss and grief that he felt not only for himself, but also for his son Ethan.

But grief evolves; its rawness becomes less brutal and time offers space to reflect, to consider what has passed and to recognize that our experience with grief itself changes. In 2020 Simon launched a new podcast, Life, Interrupted, in which he interviews both celebrities and those not well-known, whose lives have been radically changed by a traumatic event. The podcast was the inspiration to revisit this book; and with the benefit of time, to reflect on what he has learned since Gemma's death.

This is not an A-Z on how to cope with grief: it is a father and son's journey down grief's bumpy road as they begin to find a reason to live again. Love, Interrupted shows that however much the darkness closes in, however bereft of hope life can sometimes feel, there is always light, love and life to be found.

This updated and revised edition includes Simon's Reflections from a Distance, written four years after the original edition was published; he contemplates hope, recovery and happiness.