Joshua in the Sky: A Blood Memoir

Joshua dies on his birthday.

Joshua dies the day he is born.

Joshua lives for three hours.

Joshua is alive.

Joshua in the Sky is a family memoir and a memorial to a short life.

Moving between searching explorations of one family’s blood legacy and a series of playful, humorous studies of individual poems, novels, songs and works of art, this book tells the story of one man’s attempt to come to make sense of the death of his baby nephew from a rare blood condition both share while navigating monumental changes in his own personal life.

Having spent a lifetime using reading and writing to both hide from and face the world, Joshua in the Sky serves as a kind of reckoning, asking the questions: whose life deserves to be remembered? And how?

'Brave, original and ultimately devastating', The Scotsman

‘A truly remarkable piece of writing’ – Gavin Esler

‘Rodge Glass’s narrative voice is impressive – he never flinches from the tough stuff, yet remains supremely readable and joyful’ – Sara Sheridan, author of Where Are the Women? and The Fair Botanists

‘Stands testament to the healing power of stories and offers up its raw and bloodied everything with unguarded vulnerability’ – Michael Pedersen, author of Boy Friends

‘A work of great tenderness and originality’ – Malachy Tallack, author of Illuminated by Water & The Un-Discovered Islands

‘It found me in pieces then gently wove me back together again’ – Helen Sedgwick, author of The Growing Season

All author profits from Joshua in the Sky will be donated to Cure HHT or to the UCLH Baby Fetal Unit that cared for Joshua.

© 2024 Taproot Press UK (Audiobook): 9798882224027

Release date

Audiobook: October 9, 2024