Lecretia's Choice: A Story of Love, Death and the Law

Description

A successful young lawyer, Lecretia Seales met and fell in love with Matt Vickers in 2003. In Lecretia's Choice, Matt tells the story of their life together, and how it changed when his fiercely independent wife was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour. The death she faced - slow, painful, dependent was completely at odds with how she had lived her life. Lecretia wanted to die with dignity, but the law denied her that choice. With her characteristic spirit, she mounted a challenge in New Zealand's High Court, but as the battle raged, Lecretia's strength faded.

In 2015 Matt Vickers supported his wife, Lecretia Seales, in her campaign to gain the right to choose how she died. Lecretia's Choice is his first book.

'A beautifully written story of courage, determination and a legal race against time.' -- Professor Gillian Triggs, Australian Human Rights Commission 'A poignant love story and a fiercely rational call for change.' -- Emily Perkins This is a brave, intimate book, both agonizing and uplifting, and unflinchingly honest.' -- Andrew Solomon, National Book Award winner, president of PEN American Center '"The unwinding skein of her life was blowing free in the wind, and it tormented her." If the case for assisted dying could be won through emotional appeals, this sentence would surely clinch it...Vickers is an assured writer who knows the importance of letting the moment speak for itself.' Sydney Morning Herald 'A tragic story, heart-breaking; so beautifully written...Lecretia's Choice was an almost un-put-downable book. Every home should have a copy, for a reminder, if nothing more, of what it is to have heart, humility and hope.' Off the Tracks 'Matt Vickers asserts "stories are the most powerful force in the universe." This is the story of his wife, Lecretia, and her extraordinary advocacy in the face of ordinary tragedy. It will help change the world.' -- Barbara Coombs Lee, President of Compassion and Choices USA 'A very human story... Articulate, thought provoking, honest and poignant.' Page & Blackmore Booksellers 'This is as much the story of a relationship as it is of lawyer Lecretia Seales' well-publicised effort to kick-start a law change to allow assisted dying, before she herself succumbed to cancer in June 2015...If anybody should have known how to make the most of the legal system, it was Seales. That this was not enough only makes her story as told here even sadder.' North & South