Synopsis
'This raw and fearless exploration of life, loss and mostly love - it is totally unforgettable.' Elle's Most Hyped Books of 2026
'A beautifully expressed testament to the strength and depth of the maternal bond' Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller
'Stunning, lyrical and deeply felt.' Clover Stroud
We Are Each Other tells Jess' story of becoming a mother while losing her own to a sudden terminal diagnosis. It's about loss, yes, but at its core it's about how we love when we are living on the threshold of life and death with someone central to our being and place in the world.
Jess' mother was the beloved Tessa Jowell MP. She lived a public life, but this is not the story of a public person - it's the story of a mother and daughter, walking both sides of life and death together.
The writing began as a way to metabolise her own experience, it tells the story of the way they loved, the way Jess grieved, and the way she renewed in that life-defining year. But the long and enduring journey of completing it over several years sharpened and galvanised its ultimate purpose to be about so much more than Jess and Tessa. It is ultimately for anyone who has loved and lost someone at the centre of their world and identity. That is its purpose: to give language and greater articulation to this most universal human experience.
'A beautifully expressed testament to the strength and depth of the maternal bond' Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller
'Stunning, lyrical and deeply felt.' Clover Stroud
We Are Each Other tells Jess' story of becoming a mother while losing her own to a sudden terminal diagnosis. It's about loss, yes, but at its core it's about how we love when we are living on the threshold of life and death with someone central to our being and place in the world.
Jess' mother was the beloved Tessa Jowell MP. She lived a public life, but this is not the story of a public person - it's the story of a mother and daughter, walking both sides of life and death together.
The writing began as a way to metabolise her own experience, it tells the story of the way they loved, the way Jess grieved, and the way she renewed in that life-defining year. But the long and enduring journey of completing it over several years sharpened and galvanised its ultimate purpose to be about so much more than Jess and Tessa. It is ultimately for anyone who has loved and lost someone at the centre of their world and identity. That is its purpose: to give language and greater articulation to this most universal human experience.
Details
05 March 2026
9781785124709Imprint: Leap
Reviews
Jess paints the picture of grief and motherhood in such a profound way: Evocative, Tender, Exquisite.
A dazzling debut. Jess' words sing from the page. A book about grief that ultimately celebrates the joy and the hope of life at its core. A raw and fearless exploration of life, loss and mostly love - it is totally unforgettable.
Stunning, lyrical and deeply felt. About death yes, but ultimately about the greater powers of love to redeem and heal.
