Wounds

Some losses happen before we have the words to understand them. Their echoes can last a lifetime.

What happens when a child experiences profound loss but has nowhere to turn with his questions, fears, and grief?

In Wounds, François-Xavier Perthuis revisits the childhood experiences that shaped his life: the death of his little sister, Christine, when he was just two years old, and the loss of his baby brother, Philippe, only two days after his birth. In a family where sorrow remained largely unspoken, these early bereavements left him struggling to understand death, the absence of those he loved, and the emotions he could not express.

Through intimate memories and deeply personal reflections, Perthuis explores the lasting effects of childhood grief, the weight of family secrets, and the loneliness of a child who tries to protect his parents by concealing his own pain. As the years pass, further losses and unanswered questions bring him back to the wounds he has carried for so long. His search for understanding eventually leads him to explore bereavement more deeply and to consider what grieving children need most: a compassionate presence, the freedom to ask questions, and the reassurance that their suffering is seen and heard.

Yet Wounds is not only a story of loss. It is also a moving reflection on resilience, faith, family bonds, memory, and the possibility of learning to live with grief without erasing the people who are gone.

The book features a preface by Professor Bernard Golse, a distinguished French child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, who reflects on the relationship between grief, secrecy, and resilience. He describes Perthuis's writing as a work of remarkable sensitivity that confronts death while affirming life.

Originally published in French as Blessures, this revised and expanded English edition offers a thoughtful, deeply personal exploration of the wounds childhood loss can leave behind-and of the understanding that can emerge when long-held silences finally give way to words.

For readers of literary memoirs, those navigating bereavement, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of childhood grief, sibling loss, and the enduring bonds between the living and the dead, Wounds is an invitation to listen to what has remained unspoken.

Publisher: BookFuel