Carrying the Tiger: Living with Cancer, Dying with Grace, Finding Joy While Grieving

An inspiring story of love, loss and recovery

“[A] beautifully devastating memoir… a remarkable odyssey of learning to ‘live fully in the shadow of death.’” — Publishers Weekly BookLife (Editor’s Pick)

In the spirit of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking and Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air comes Carrying the Tiger, a life affirming memoir about the full circle of life and death.

When Tony Stewart’s wife, Lynn, receives a sudden and devastating diagnosis, they scramble to find effective treatment, navigate life threatening setbacks, learn to live fully in the shadow of death, and share the intimate grace of her departure from this world. Then Tony slowly climbs out of shattering grief and, surprisingly, eases toward new love.

There is uncertainty, fear, and sorrow, but also tenderness and joy, along with a renewed perspective on what it means to live and love with one’s whole heart.

“Captures emotions and experiences that will be familiar to anyone who’s stood by a loved one facing a cancer diagnosis... this is a work that will strengthen all who read it.” — Khalid Dar, MD, Oncologist, Mount Sinai Morningside

“A beautiful and very human love story which breathes an extraordinary generosity of spirit.” — David Newman, author of Talking with Doctors

© 2025 West End Books (Audiobook): 9798992264937

Release date

Audiobook: April 29, 2025