Your Wild and Precious Life: On grief, hope and rebellion

by Liz Jensen

My son's death will never make sense to me. But it has taught me that it's possible to find meaning, collectively and individually, in the loss of what we love. And in finding them, transform. Resilience is a seed that we all bear inside us. It germinates in emergencies. It sets down roots in astonishing and unexpected ways. And if we notice it, and tend to it, it blooms.

Liz Jensen's son, a zoologist, conservationist and ecological activist, was twenty-five when he collapsed and died unexpectedly. She fell apart. As she grieved, forest fires raged, coral reefs deteriorated, CO2 emissions rose and fossil fuels burned.

Your Wild and Precious Life is the story of how a mother rebuilt herself, reoriented her life and rediscovered the enchantment of the living world. Set against the backdrop of climate and ecological catastrophe, it's an argument for agency, legacy and the wild possibility of hope after devastation.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Grief

226 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 7, 2024

About the author

Liz Jensen was born in Oxfordshire, the daughter of a Danish father and an Anglo-Moroccan mother. She spent two years as a journalist in the Far East before joining the BBC, first as a journalist, then as a TV and radio producer. She then moved to France where she worked as a sculptor began her first novel, Egg Dancing, which was published in 1995. Back in London she wrote Ark Baby (1998) which was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award, The Paper Eater (2000), and War Crimes for the Home (2002) which was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She has two children and shares her life with the Danish essayist, travel writer and novelist Carsten Jensen.

Reviews

[Sarah Hegarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Liz Jensen’s twenty-five-year-old son Raphael died suddenly of heart failure, she had no idea how she could go on. She wanted to die, too. In this brave and unflinching memoir, she gives a searing account of her grieving process. Raphael was a prominent environmental campaigner; Jensen too mourns the loss of the natural world, her grief for its despoliation and extinction parallelling her grief for son. In her trademark clear and elegant prose, she shows how she came to understand the connection that each of us has with nature, and how, if we allow the planet to heal, it will help us. As the subtitle suggests, this is a powerful, urgent book, filled with beauty – and hope.

[Paul Sutter]

It is difficult for someone to accept it when a person close to them passes on. It is never easy to cope with, as we are flooded with grief and memories. It is often even more difficult to accept the passing when that person has not reached the prime of their life. That was the case when Raphael Coleman died suddenly at twenty-five years of age.
He was a conservationist, zoologist, environmental activist, son, and so much more. A rare heart disorder claimed his young life. In the book YOUR WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE (ON GRIEF, HOPE AND REBELLION,) his mother Liz Jensen pays tribute to that life, and how she coped with the sudden passing.
The book is so eloquently written, every page, laced with love and remembrance, and how Raphael has been with her much of the time, in spirit and through nature around her. While there was much darkness in her life and without doubt, an emptiness that filled her soul, Liz took that grief, and rather than wallow in despair and pain, she used the passing to create an eternal and internal memorial to Raphael in so many ways.
It is obvious that her son was filled the same sort of love for the world around him and his mother, as she had for him. Through his caring for the creatures of the world along with the world itself, Liz has been able to further create harmony and caring through the wildlife around her. A mother’s grief is very strong, but that grief was often abated by signs around her that Raphael was nearby. Whether it was species of birds, or other creatures on this planet, she was given solace through the pain, knowing in many ways her son seemed a heartbeat away.
You cannot help be moved through the powerful writing of Liz Jensen, bringing the reader right into the pages, almost feeling the same pain and sadness. She not only highlights the legacy of Raphael Coleman, but also gives us encouragement, if we were ever to lose someone as close to us as she was to him.

[Humphrey Hawksley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aged just 25, Liz Jensen’s son, Raphael, dies suddenly while preparing to make an anti-poaching documentary. He had an undetected heart condition and, in his short life, he had been a Hollywood child actor and a charismatic climate activist who came to prominence as a leader of London’s Extinction Rebellion protests. Days after his death, as Liz deals with the trauma of identifying the body in a remote area of South Africa, Trafalgar Square is filled with flags, haunting music and mourning activists as they walk in tribute to the Palace of Westminster. Jensen has succeeded magnificently in weaving together her personal tragedy and that of the changing climate’s impact on our environment, underpinning the cause for which both she and Raphael fought with such strength and passion. Here is a stunning piece of the writing, one of the finest works in the canon of grief, a story about all of us and how we live and guide on how to handle such unexpected, personal tragedy.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was heart-breaking but beautifully written 💔 it’s a true story of a woman who lost her 25 year old son out of the blue and the ways she has navigated her grief since.

the first chunk of this book was the hardest to read - my heart hurt for her, how awful it must have been, can’t even imagine it. it makes you think about how anything can happen at any given moment and to be grateful for all that you have around you 🩵

it’s hard to summarise this book except to say it’s a bundle of grief - what it means to lose someone, accepting the “signs” as a way of coping, and knowing that no matter what, the person “lost” still lives on in so many other immaterial ways and that still makes them so so special.

I’d recommend this book in particular to anyone struggling with grief, knows someone who is or is interested in the topic. it happens to all of us. this book is a little light in the hard times ✨

[Jackie West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two remarkable legacies come together in this story: that of Raphael himself and his tireless campaign to halt the destruction of the planet, and Liz Jensen’s own stunning literary account of how his short life changed hers as a mother and a writer. She shares with us, in deft, elegant prose, what it is to lose a young adult child, one still so full of energy, charisma and conviction, and what came after such an unimaginable loss to their family and friends.

This is not a book to read on public transport (as I did…other passengers may wonder why you are crying) but it is ultimately a story of hope and a compelling call for personal and political courage.

[Vanessa May · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful, honest and raw account of how it really feels to lose a child. 'Your Wild and Precious Life' is beautifully and skilfully written. Liz Jenson does not shy away from the true horror of the sudden loss of a child but, at the same time, she offers hope and the possibility of remaining connected to them. I loved the spiritual perspective that the book offered which may bring comfort to other bereaved parents. In addition, the book offers a parallel theme of climate and ecological catastrophe that her son Raphäel was so passionate about. Liz's determination to honour her son's legacy and her love for him shines through on every page. A wonderful book and highly recommended.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir is more than a narrative about grief. It's an exploration of the numinous and the spiritual, of life and love after death. I thought this was going to be about the grief and the climate, but at some point, Jensen's experiences of the transcendent starts to come through to the forefront. This is a comforting and hopeful book for those who have experienced devastating loss.

the Wild and my new sense of the numinous have taught me more than I ever knew, or could imagine knowing, before my kairos moment struck.

Perhaps it’s what Icarus knew, as he fell from the sky.

All of it is richer. All of it is stranger.

All of it matters.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book can have so many different impact on people in different life stages! I have not experienced a child’s loss and still found deeply moving to read a mother’s grieving process. Sadly, some could put themselves in her shoes, maybe comparing their feelings of what she went through, realising it’s them too! Sensitive topic, with a beautiful memoir of a son and detailed description of a mother’s deep feelings.

[Krisi Koleva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very beautiful, very sad and difficult to read at times because of how the author's pain was spilling from the pages. Also inspiring and paints great portraits of the type of people innately connected to nature and animals, especially of Raphael Coleman.

[Lorena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gutted me. Beautiful

[Claire💌 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really powerful read focusing on the relationship between grief and nature.