The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes

International Bestseller

Mia-"Rabbit"-Hayes knows that life is hard for everyone. And she knows that she's one of the lucky ones. She loves her life, ordinary as it is. And she loves the extraordinary people in it: her spirited daughter, Juliet; her colorful, unruly family; the only man in her big heart, Johnny Faye. Rabbit has big ideas, full of music and love and so much life. She has plans for the world. But the world, it turns out, has other plans for Rabbit: a devastating diagnosis.

Rabbit is feisty. And with every ounce of love and strength in her, she promises that she will overcome. She will fight fight fight. She will be with those who love her for as long as she can, and she will live as long as she can with music and love and so much life. And as her friends and family rally round to celebrate Rabbit's last days, they look to her for strength, support, and her unyielding zest for life. Because she is Rabbit Hayes and she will live until she dies.

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The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes

International Bestseller

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The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes

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The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes

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International Bestseller

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250058249
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Publication date:	08/04/2015
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

ANNA MCPARTLIN is a novelist and scriptwriter. Her previous incarnation as a stand-up comic left an indelible mark. She describes herself as a slave to the joke and finds humor and humanity in even the darkest situations. Anna lives in Dublin, Ireland. The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes is her sixth novel.

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While it might not be shocking to learn we’re passionate about books around here, we’re also passionate about authors. The Discover Great New Writers program has spent the last 25 years discovering new writers and making sure the signal-to-noise ratio is adjusted in their favor, and we’re proud to keep doing just that with our latest selections—some […]

07/06/2015
McPartlin's novel does not tell the story of 44-year-old Rabbit Hayes's death, but relates the experience of savoring the final days and moments of a life lived with purpose and intent. Succumbing after a second bout of breast cancer metastasizes to liver, then lung, then bone, Rabbit leaves behind friends and family, including 12-year-old daughter Juliet. The setting switches among the present and two points in the past—Rabbit's spirited teenage years, when she was consumed by her first love, and the cancer blog she began when first diagnosed—and Rabbit and her family share narration throughout. The characters and their relationships with Rabbit gradually come to life, especially Rabbit's brother, Davey. McPartlin (Pack Up the Moon) very effectively captures a family during a traumatic moment. The novel is kept light with a measure of dry humor and many beautiful instances of love, leaving a lighter impression than one might expect. This novel will be torn from the shelves by fans of tearjerkers such as P.S. I Love You. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

What a beautiful book. I started crying on page one, crying and smiling my way through to the end. I found it to be searingly, sweetly painful. I gave up seven months to take care of my best friend, and this book brought back all the grief and laughter of those final days. I hadn't been able to dwell on those thoughts for a very long time, had instead tried to replace them with what my friend was like 'before' her diagnosis, but this book allowed me to revisit those days, remember that amidst our collective grief there was also levity, and so very much love.” —Jane Green
“McPartlin very effectively captures a family during a traumatic moment. The novel is kept light with a measure of dry humor and many beautiful instances of love, leaving a lighter impression than one might expect. This novel will be torn from the shelves by fans of tearjerkers such as P.S. I Love You.” —Publishers Weekly
“McPartlin brings heart and humor to her account of Rabbit's last days as lived not only by her but also by her loving family.” —Booklist
“By turns laugh-out-loud funny and weep-into-your-hanky heartbreaking, Rabbit's story is a powerful catharsis.” —Kirkus

From the Publisher

McPartlin brings heart and humor to her account of Rabbit's last days as lived not only by her but also by her loving family.

Booklist

What a beautiful book. I started crying on page one, crying and smiling my way through to the end. I found it to be searingly, sweetly painful. I gave up seven months to take care of my best friend, and this book brought back all the grief and laughter of those final days. I hadn't been able to dwell on those thoughts for a very long time, had instead tried to replace them with what my friend was like 'before' her diagnosis, but this book allowed me to revisit those days, remember that amidst our collective grief there was also levity, and so very much love.

Jane Green

2015-04-30
Her cancer is back, and all the love, humor, and stubbornness in the world won't save Rabbit Hayes this time. When 40-year-old Mia Hayes was a little girl, Johnny Faye, her brother Davey's friend, dubbed her "Rabbit" for the pigtails bunched on her head. The nickname stuck. Johnny was the lead singer in Davey's band, the Kitchen Sink, and the love of Rabbit's life. From Johnny's defending Rabbit from school-age bullies through the rise and fall of Kitchen Sink—a fall perpetuated by Johnny's terminal illness—theirs was a true and clear love. Now Rabbit faces her last days in hospice care as she approaches death from metastatic breast cancer. Surrounded by her raucous family and friends, Rabbit tries to rally. Jack, Rabbit's father, is devastated not only that his youngest will die, but also that his wife, Molly, seems to have given up on Rabbit. Yet Molly rarely leaves her daughter's side. Davey returns to Dublin from America, mourning for his sister, but finds some comfort in playing a paternal role for his 12-year-old niece, Juliet, whose biological father disappeared well before Rabbit gave birth to her. Rabbit's older sister, Grace, tries to buttress the family, and everyone descends upon Rabbit's room, holding a rather hilarious wake before her death. Although the ties binding her to her family pull taut, it's the memories of Johnny that beckon more strongly. In Rabbit's dreams, the narrative slips back in time to tell the love story between Rabbit and Johnny. McPartlin (The Space Between Us, 2012, etc.) deftly balances Rabbit's disappointment and her family's grief with humor. She possesses impeccable timing, creating rhythms of conversation that can evoke the banter of screwball comedies as well as the mournful dirge of loss. By turns laugh-out-loud funny and weep-into-your-hanky heartbreaking, Rabbit's story is a powerful catharsis.

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