Do you remember reading about the terror attack on the Bataclan in 2015? I remember seeing it unfold on Twitter and being horrified at what was happening, but also feeling a sense of disconnect because it was happening so far away.

Imagine if you saw what was happening and realised that your wife was there? That was the reality for Antoine Leiris, and the heartbreaking story in this brilliantly written book.

Inspired by an open letter that the author wrote to his wife’s killers on Facebook, this memoir of how he dealt with the death of his wife and realising he was alone with his baby son Melvil was extraordinarily courageous and made me so sad that we live in a world where this could happen.

The author is unflinchingly honest, leaving himself emotionally open to the world as he describes how he dealt with such tragic events, but there’s not a hint of anger in his voice, he does not want to give the killers such satisfaction.

There were so many quotes I could pick from this book, but this one stuck with me the most:

“No one can be healed of death. All they can do is tame it. Death is a wild animal, sharp-fanged. I am just trying to build a cage to keep it locked in. It is there, beside me, drooling as it waits to devour me. The bars of the cage that protect me are made of paper.”