At twenty-nine, Dominique Olivier’s life was torn apart in an instant. A car accident killed her husband and toddler daughter, leaving her widowed with a newborn baby. Lessons from Loss begins here, with the raw, unflinching story of grief at its most devastating – but it does not end there. Part memoir, part guide, the book traces what it means to keep living after unthinkable loss. Each chapter opens with a personal vignette drawn from Dominique’s own experience – the shock of those first weeks, the anxiety of raising a child alone, the complicated process of finding love again – and is followed by a reflective section that explores what the lessons learnt from those moments might mean for others.
Themes range from how impossible it is to rank pain,...
Dominique Olivier was born and raised in Cape Town and graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Arts (UCT) in 2014. While she still paints in her free time, she has built her career as a writer in the marketing space and as a columnist for Ghost Mail and the Daily Maverick. Her debut book tells the story of the accident that changed her life in 2022, killing her husband and eldest daughter. While the premise is devastating, her writing insists on hope, resilience and love. She now lives in Cape Town with her fiancé and her youngest daughter, who is three years old.
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