For book clubs, grief groups & organizations
Read it together
Grief is lighter in company. Here is a free discussion guide, a way to invite Shane into your group, and everything an organization needs to put On the Healing Road in a lot of hands at once.
Discussion guide
Questions worth sitting with
Use as many or as few as you like. There are no right answers — the good ones usually take a minute of silence first.
- Shane's line is “when life places an obstacle in your path, the only way is through.” What does through mean to you? Where in your own life have you gone around instead?
- Shane chose to tell Conor the whole story of his mother, in pieces, over many miles. Why do you think the road made that possible in a way home did not?
- What does this book say about the difference between grieving and being finished grieving?
- Caregiving takes up years of this story. How does the book portray the caregiver's own grief, which often begins long before the death?
- Sara is remembered here by someone who loved her. How does love shape the way a person is remembered — and what is gained or lost in that?
- The book insists that healing and grief can sit side by side. Have you found that to be true?
- How does a ten-year-old grieve differently than an adult? What did Conor seem to need that words could not give him?
- Where did you see Shane get it wrong, or do the hard thing badly? What did that honesty do for you as a reader?
- Travel, movement, and landscape carry a lot of weight in this story. What is it about moving that helps when you are stuck?
- Who in your own life has been a “fellow traveler” — someone who simply stayed near you in a hard season?
- The memoir avoids easy answers and tidy lessons. How did that change your experience of reading it?
- If you could ask Shane one question about the road, or about Sara, what would it be?
- What would you want someone to know in the first week after a loss? What would you not say?
- Is there something you have been carrying that this book gave you language for?
A chapter-by-chapter companion guide will be added here once the book is released.
Bring Shane to your group
He will show up — on your couch or on your screen
Shane joins book clubs and reading groups for conversation, questions, and the parts of the story that did not fit in the book. Virtual visits are the easiest to schedule; in-person depends on where you are and when.
Tell him about your group and he will follow up personally. Nothing is confirmed until he says so himself.
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Grief groups, hospices, cancer & caregiver organizations
For the people who sit with the newly grieving
This book was written by someone who lived four years inside cancer and then walked out the other side as a widowed father. It speaks plainly to caregivers, to the newly widowed, and to parents trying to help a child grieve — which is why grief groups, hospice teams, oncology social workers, faith communities and caregiver networks keep asking about it.
If you want copies for the people you serve, tell us what you need and Shane will follow up personally with options.
Your message goes to Shane, and you'll also get book news. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy
Libraries, booksellers & educators
Everything you need to say yes
Librarians, booksellers and educators: the press kit has the cover, author photos, the one-sheet and Shane's bio in three lengths. If you need something that is not there, ask.
Your message goes to Shane, and you'll also get book news. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy
Good to know
Frequently asked
Does Shane really join book clubs?
Yes — virtual visits are the easiest to arrange. Send the form above and he will follow up himself.
Can we get copies for our organization?
Tell us how many and who they are for, and Shane will come back to you with options. Nothing is quoted or promised on this page.
Is there a printed discussion guide?
The questions above print cleanly today. A chapter-by-chapter guide follows once the book is out.
Is this book right for a grief support group?
Many of its readers are grieving a spouse, a parent, or walking beside someone through cancer. Here is an honest look at who it is for.