Gifts of Passage

Not all gifts are tangible.

After suffering the loss of her father while writing her bestselling debut book, Amy Hollingsworth began to search for the meaning behind his dying moments. What she found was a simple truth at the heart of overcoming the deepest grief: the dying leave gifts. With deeply moving stories of how others discovered the gifts their loved ones left behind, this book will gently encourage you to anticipate and uncover your own.

Weaving together the warm intimacy of Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie and the straightforward honesty of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, Amy Hollingsworth adds her hopeful voice to the literature of life and the life beyond. The result is a collection of stories that gives the reader myriad ways to identify their own pain and healing and is an intriguing journey for any and all readers fascinated by this brief overlap of heaven and earth.

“Amy Hollingsworth has given us a wonderful gift in this book, enabling us to view death from a new and different perspective, which is a rare gift indeed.  I can honestly say I have never thought about discerning the gifts that loved ones wanted to give us before their deaths, whether intentionally or unintentionally.  Yet it makes perfect sense to me now, for they do want desperately to give us one last gift before they die.  Hollingsworth uses stories, literature, dreams, and biblical examples to awaken in us the desire and even a sense of holy urgency to discover, understand, and cherish these gifts.  It made me ponder my past losses in a new way.  I received gifts I did not know were there.  I cannot thank Amy enough.”

– Gerald Sittser, bestselling author of A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss

“Amy Hollingsworth’s writing is reminiscent of Henri Nouwen in its vulnerability.”

– Sean Herriott, radio host