Kate Gross died of cancer on Christmas Day in 2014. She was only 36 and the mother of young twin boys. She wrote this book as a gift to her sons. After reading her blogs and articles she’d written in the papers, I was sent on early copy of her new book before it was published and while she was still alive. She wrote beautifully, so thoughtful and honest, yet funny too despite the dreadful story unfolding. Late Fragments really is a celebration of life. On the one hand it was so sad that it made me cry on the tube. On the other it made me think about how I’ve lived my life and what more I want to do with it. I’d never met Kate or her family, but her voice in the book was so strong that I felt like I knew them all. I sent a message to her husband on Twitter, just days before she died, as it turned out, to say what an extraordinary book it was. “Sophie, I’m sitting with Kate at home; she is very sick and sleeping most of the time now. I read her your message and she smiled. Thank you” he replied. She passed away just 5 days later in the early hours of Christmas Day. But her inspirational words live on.