The last days of five great thinkers, writers and artists - as they come to terms with the reality of approaching death

Katie Roiphe's extraordinary book is filled with intimate and surprising revelations. Susan Sontag, consummate public intellectual, finds her rational thinking tested during her third bout with cancer. Seventy-six year old John Updike's response to a fatal diagnosis is to begin a poem. Dylan Thomas's fatal collapse on the floor of a Greenwich Village tavern is preceded by a fortnight of almost suicidal excess. Sigmund Freud understands his hastening decline. Maurice Sendak shows his lifelong obsession with death in his beloved books.

The Violet Hour - urgent and unsentimental - helps us to be less afraid in the face of death.

'Engrossing . . . Such an immersive book is testament to her remarkable literary skills. This is an immensely sympathetic and satisfying read' Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times

'Roiphe is an acute reader and listener with antennae tuned to pick up every nuance, and to penetrate the meaning behind meaning' Craig Brown, Daily Mail

'Elegant . . . courageous, generous, intimate' Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree