
All Is Not Loss
The Spirituality of Grief
Duncan Maclaren(Author)
Canterbury Press Norwich
Published on 24. September 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-1-78622-613-6 (ISBN)
Description
Grief is not a rare visitor - it is a quiet companion, woven into the fabric of everyday life. From birth to death, loss shadows us, often just beneath the surface.
In this deeply compassionate book, Duncan MacLaren explores the many faces of grief - not only bereavement, but also the quieter sorrows of parting, regret, failure, nostalgia, and shame. With insight and sensitivity, he invites us to reconsider grief not as a sign of a broken world, but as a doorway to deeper connection, understanding, and spiritual growth. Ten chapters examine aspects of loss that are widely recognised: parting, regret, nostalgia, failure, bereavement, shame, ageing, dependence, mortality, and disenchantment.
Far from offering easy answers, All is Not Loss draws on the lived experiences of those who have been profoundly marked by loss - and yet have found their lives unexpectedly expanded. MacLaren offers a hopeful vision: that even in our pain, we may discover that all is not loss.
In this deeply compassionate book, Duncan MacLaren explores the many faces of grief - not only bereavement, but also the quieter sorrows of parting, regret, failure, nostalgia, and shame. With insight and sensitivity, he invites us to reconsider grief not as a sign of a broken world, but as a doorway to deeper connection, understanding, and spiritual growth. Ten chapters examine aspects of loss that are widely recognised: parting, regret, nostalgia, failure, bereavement, shame, ageing, dependence, mortality, and disenchantment.
Far from offering easy answers, All is Not Loss draws on the lived experiences of those who have been profoundly marked by loss - and yet have found their lives unexpectedly expanded. MacLaren offers a hopeful vision: that even in our pain, we may discover that all is not loss.
Reviews / Votes
'This book makes a significant contribution to...[the] conversation about death and bereavement. Its subject is grief - not just the grief that arises from dying and death, but the grief that comes from others forms of loss, including partings, ageing, failures, [and ] regrets...Duncan MacLaren has seen too much to offer easy slogans and shallow comforts. He acknowledges the reality of pain and suffering ...Yet he has also experienced enough to come to the realisation that, in his words, "grief may visit us with unexpected gifts".' -- From the foreword by Ian Bradley 'MacLaren has written a life-affirming study that offers much of depth to those who have suffered loss. He explores grief in differing presentations, whether experienced privately, collectively, or even at a planetary level. Here we glimpse the braided interlace of grief and God. We glimpse the paradox of spiritual opening, by which even death can deepen life and our aliveness to it. This is a book that will be a friend to many who have suffered loss. It should be read by those who might be professionally involved whether as counsellors, chaplains, celebrants, or in other pastoral positions.' -- Alastair McIntosh 'Drawing on years of pastoral work and wide reading, Duncan MacLaren has written a deeply sane and humane account of the many different forms of grief. Beautifully steering its way through the platitudes that so often surround this difficult subject, All is Not Loss offers real, useful wisdom.' -- Joe MoranMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
232 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78622-613-6 (9781786226136)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
09/2025
Hymns Ancient & Modern
€23.49
Available for download
Person
Dr Duncan MacLaren has worked with loss and grief in healthcare settings for over a decade. He is a hospice counsellor in Edinburgh, and was previously Head of Spiritual Care and Bereavement in NHS Lothian.