Rebecca Loncraine was 34 and had just published her first book when she discovered two lumps – one under her arm and one under her breast. Before that day, she'd had her life neatly planned out: school, university, career, marriage. Now there was just one plan. Survival.
After 18 months of gruelling treatment for an aggressive breast cancer, she'd lost 25kg, split from her partner and traded the city for her parents' farm in Wales. Cancer had reordered her destiny like a casino dealer shuffles a pack of cards. With the reshuffle came a surprising ace.
Out on a walk one day, she noticed a gliding club. "I needed something new, something big and intense," she said later. "I wanted to live boldly as it might not be for very long." The next day, she booked a lesson.
Rebecca Loncraine was 34 and had just published her first book when she discovered two lumps – one under her arm and one under her breast. Before that day, she'd had her life neatly planned out: school, university, career, marriage. Now there was just one plan. Survival.
After 18 months of gruelling treatment for an aggressive breast cancer, she'd lost 25kg, split from her partner and traded the city for her parents' farm in Wales. Cancer had reordered her destiny like a casino dealer shuffles a pack of cards. With the reshuffle came a surprising ace.
Out on a walk one day, she noticed a gliding club. "I needed something new, something big and intense," she said later. "I wanted to live boldly as it might not be for very long." The next day, she booked a lesson.
She was hooked from her first flight.
"I wondered what on earth I was doing, but as we lifted into the air, this big breath came out. Up in the sky there was enough space to grieve and experience emotion.
I could cry and feel intense joy, then leave it all up there. I came down with a massive smile on my face."
She went on to soar the skies of Wales, the Himalayas and NZ's Southern Alps, but in 2016, after a second battle with cancer, she died aged 42. She left behind her devastated parents Trisha and Tony but also an exquisitely written, thrilling and intense – albeit unfinished – manuscript describing her experiences
in the firmament. Her parents and Rebecca's editor picked up where she left off, threading the final pieces together so readers could appreciate this self-portrait of a young woman staring down her own mortality by soaring with the birds. A beautiful account of a life well lived.
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Entry is open only to New Zealand residents. Employees of Bauer Media Group (LP) NZ or [Picador], their affiliates, agencies and immediate families are ineligible to enter. No responsibility is taken for lost, misdirected or incomplete entries. Entries are limited to one per person. Open to New Zealand residents only. This promotion commences [Monday 11 June] and ends [Tuesday 31 July]. By registering their details, entrants give permission for Bauer Media Group (LP) NZ to post, email and mobile text message updates. The prize consists of [Skybound by Rebecca Loncraine]. We have [five] to give away. The prize package must be taken as offered and is not exchangeable, transferable or redeemable for cash. Bauer Media Group (LP) NZ reserves the right to exchange any item with another item of greater value. Anything not specified in these terms and conditions as being included in the prize package is excluded. The winner will be contacted via [email] between [Wednesday 1 August and Friday 3 August]. The promoter is Bauer Media Group (LP) NZ, Shed 12, City Works Depot, 90 Wellesley Street West, Auckland.
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