Anna McPartlin

Anna McPartlin is an Irish novelist and scriptwriter who threads humor through narratives of illness, grief, family ties, and friendship. The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes follows Mia, known as Rabbit, as terminal cancer brings her extended family and friends together around her. Her daughter Juliet, her parents, her siblings, and memories of Johnny Faye give the novel a wider emotional field than Rabbit's diagnosis alone. Transworld Digital published the original ebook in June 2014, and St. Martin's Griffin issued an American edition in 2016 under the fuller edition title The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes: A Novel. McPartlin's background in stand-up comedy helps explain the book's movement between sorrow and irreverent dialogue. She later adapted her international bestseller for film. Rather than presenting courage as constant cheerfulness, McPartlin allows Rabbit and those around her to be angry, frightened, funny, and loving, making the final days a collective portrait of how one life is held by many others.