.png)
“This book is for anyone who has loved and lost an animal... Let me help you to find them again, through this story.”
Eli Gardner
At the end of July, Gracie's Way received a follow on Instagram from indie Author; Eli Gardner, and I decided to check out her profile (@abrakadabraink). When I discovered she had written a book which included discussion of the topic pet bereavement and that she uses her book sales to fund animal rescue, I immediately DM’d her to say thanks and then asked if she’d like to collaborate. I give some brief descriptions of Gracie’s Way, and I’m NOT Disordered and offered to put together a proper collaboration pitch if she was interested, but she actually agreed to the collaboration without me doing so! In our talks to determine exactly what shape the collaboration would take, Eli very kindly gifted me a personalised copy of the book as well as sending a lot more copies with the plan of running a giveaway on both I’m NOT Disordered and Gracie’s Way! For my favourite quote from the book and how i relate to it, check out the blog post over on www.imnotdisordered.co.uk... And now, the plan for this article – for Read A Book Day 2026 – is that there’s a Q&A with Eli and then guidance of entering the giveaway...
1. What inspired you to explore pet bereavement and the unique grief that comes with losing an animal?
About two years ago, one of my rescue horses—a big Belgian draft named Hemingway—had a medical emergency. It was a traumatic experience as I had to make the call to euthanize him or send him through surgery, an ordeal that would have resulted in months of stall rest where he essentially couldn’t move. No guarantees he would fully heal. But the vet asked me to make the call, saying there was a 30% chance he could pull through, and to make the call immediately because every minute his chances worsened and pain increased. Talk about an impossible choice. This huge, 2500lb sweet beast who looked perfectly healthy, sent off to the Afterlife by me. It was the first animal I ever had to do that for, and with it came a crushing sense of guilt and doubt. A few weeks later, a cat I had for 13 years passed. Then a few weeks after that, I had to make the call on the sister cat whose health had rapidly declined, who I also had for 13 years—my soul kitty. My world upended that summer. I was introduced to a grief I hadn’t known before. All the complicated emotions of having to make that choice—they lived and died because of my words. I had never fully appreciated the weight and toll of it before.
Suddenly I could see the community of people the world-over who had also experienced this. How have people been handling this? I thought. How did I not understand before? I often write in niche topics—Afghan women’s rights, war poetry, etc. But looking around I realized that the amount of people who share this particular kind of grief, is truly uncountable. It’s such a huge number that it should unite us. I thought about how many people need healing and hope in the face of this grief. And what could I do to help? For me, helping usually means writing. A story started to form, after Hemi passed and I prayed for a sign that he was ok. Well, I got three signs, including a piece of unexpected mail from a Hemingway Lane. It made me picture Hemi up at the Rainbow Bridge, orchestrating the perfect sign just for me. At this point, I had already written my novel, The Salty Guardian, which is specifically about guardian angels sending signs to their trainwreck humans.
So, the concept had already planted seeds. Why couldn’t the guardian angels be animals? Animals are so clearly angels, after all. The story emerged from there, and I crafted it with delicacy, knowing I had to sprinkle it with humour and a bit of the fantastical, in order for it to be an enjoyable visit through grief, as unlikely as that sounds. The end result: a good laugh, an even better cry, and a more hopeful heart.
2. Why do you think losing a pet can have such a profound impact on someone's emotional and mental wellbeing?
Because a pet offers unconditional love. It is a straight-forward and beautiful relationship. They don’t make demands of us. They love us. Always. Endlessly. No matter what. It’s not like that with humans. How could we not be affected profoundly when unconditional love leaves us? There is the added layer of responsibility. We are often making that call, to help them cross over or not. That comes with endless second-guessing and heavy guilt. In today’s modern world, we are usually pretty removed from death in general, yet our animals are often the ones who make us confront it, and that can be alarming, overwhelming, and something we are just not adapted to cope with anymore. It leaves our minds and hearts very vulnerable and deeply wounded.
3. What do you think makes the bond between a person and their animal so special?
In the book, I write that Heaven relies on the brigade of animals at the Rainbow Bridge more than any other type of angel, in these modern times. I write that in this increasingly disconnected world, humans turn to animals more than ever for unconditional love, to feel something. To connect. I believe that is what makes the bond so special. They are sent to teach us about that love and kindness, and we are sent for them in return to teach them the same thing. We are called to be good stewards of the animals, and that is also a part of it. We have responsibilities to protect them and take care of them, and this strengthens the bond as well. They share so many important moments of our lives. Often, they outlive our human relationships. They might see us through multiple romantic partners, friendships, or many different homes. They are our constant. The thing we can rely on. That is increasingly more important than ever in this fast-paced world. They also force us to slow down. Be present. Enjoy the little moments with them—tail wags, little pawprints, zoomies—there is reciprocated joy there on both sides, and we know exactly what to expect from them.
4. As an author, how did you approach writing about pet bereavement authentically while still creating a work of fiction? Were there particular emotions or experiences that you felt were especially important to capture?
Honestly so much of it was real—experiences and emotions. Even though it is magical realism, it might be one of the truest novels I’ve written yet! I did want that authenticity there because it was important for me to speak from a place of knowing that grief. It was important to capture the whole process of that: the joy of getting an animal, the lessons they teach us, the looking back at the day of loss. The constant flashbacks. The ugly middle of grief. The overwhelm feeling. The realizations. The beautiful moments of breakthrough.
To make it fiction, I decided to give a more zoomed out picture of an animal’s love and the effect it can have, so I decided to do that by using multiple points of view (angel, demon, animal, human). Because having the support and love of an animal can empower us, make us stronger. In this fictional story, that causes a freeze to start in Hell. Because that means on Earth, the humans are being empowered by this love, to step into their purpose. This in turn, enables other humans to step into theirs. This creates a ripple effect for good, to make the world a better place. It all ties together. I think if people can see the zoomed-out effect of their animal’s love—just how it does make us and therefore the world better—it will help. If they can see this glimpse into the Afterlife, of our animals overwatching us from the Rainbow Bridge—it can comfort and heal.
5. Why was fundraising for animals something you wanted to build into the story and its journey beyond the book itself?
I quit my day-job in 2022 to pursue writing full time. I got my first 4 rescue horses (the same ones from in the book) at that same time. I finally was giving myself permission to go all-in on my dreams. It seemed like a no-brainer to tie the two things together. I wanted to help animals at a larger scale than I personally could do where I lived at the time, so I decided to empower other rescuers. I once heard someone say, “Help in the ways you can, with what you already have.” I wasn’t to the point where I could just cut checks for other rescues.
So what did I already have that I could give to the cause? My writing. I created this business model: book sales fund animal rescue. Both my own efforts, and other non-profits. I was and continue to be proud of this model. I had volunteered at a lot of animal rescues and shelters and saw the constant fatigue of endless fundraisers and pleas for money. While these donations are so important, I really wanted to try and create a model where I didn’t have to rely on other people’s money. I wanted to be able to self-fund the bulk of our rescue efforts, as well as have enough to help others.
Since I’ve had about 4 years with most of the horses now, I finally felt qualified to write It’s a Wonderful Afterlife, featuring animals, animal rescue, the animal Afterlife, and more. And although fiction, it does loosely mirror the start of my animal rescue journey, which can be fun for readers to experience in this special, fantastical way.
6. What does supporting animals and helping those who have lost them mean to you personally?
It really is about making the world a kinder place. Doing what I can to create beauty from grief—making something pretty or entertaining enough where people feel safe to explore their ugly feelings. I believe God charges us to love and to spread that love, in our own unique way of doing so. Mine is words, and specifically creating stories that spark compassion.
So, you can imagine being able to move someone with my stories and being able to multiply the effects of that story to then use that money to fund animal rescue, means everything to me. It is a fulfilment of purpose. It is refusing to give in to the negative narratives about life and how one person can’t make a difference.
7. Why do you think animals can have such a positive impact on our mental health?
They make us laugh. They make us play. They force us to be more active. They force us to learn, grow up and take responsibility. They force us to get to know ourselves better, by how we react to them in certain situations, both good and bad. For example, “Oh, I got cross at them there for something silly really, I must learn to be more patient.” Or “Oh, I really was capable of caretaking a sick cat for two years before kindly sending them along to the Rainbow Bridge with love. I am stronger than I thought.” They are that constant source of unconditional love. No one can frown through a puppy playdate or kitten snuggles, after all!
And finally, we have science to back all of this up for us. We know cat purrs are healing. We know horses have larger magnetic fields around their hearts that make them sensible to energies, to the point where they can both reflect our own energies back or help regulate our heartbeats. Science and emotional instinct both state the same fact—animals are good for us.
8. Is there a particular aspect of pet bereavement that you hope readers will understand differently after reading It’s A Wonderful Afterlife?
I hope readers can see the Afterlife part of it differently. It costs us nothing to believe that our animals are always with us in some way. That they are up there at the Rainbow Bridge, waiting for us, and while they wait, they look out for us—are working on our behalf. And in a broader sense, there are angels all around us in unlikely places, and these angels will also help us through our grief and will help us fight for our purpose and for courage. These angels might be our neighbours, our found family, or complete strangers. Even when grief makes us feel alone, we can be brave enough to believe that there are unseen teams (brigades even) of beings, working and fighting on our behalf.
9. Did exploring pet loss through fiction allow you to explore some of those less-talked-about aspects of grief?
It did. For me, I think the main thing I was able to explore that I don’t feel is as openly talked about, is how much it can affect your whole sense of purpose. It can overshadow everything really. And when pets pass, the world isn’t really expecting to hear that from you. It’s like they shrink the grief down into a one-time text and say, “Condolences on the loss of your pet.” And that should be that. But it’s not. It should really be, “I’m so sorry you lost your whole world, best friend, teacher, counsellor and constant companion. I understand this probably means nothing feels ok right now. You might be second-guessing everything in your life. Maybe even your reason for being here. I get that. It’s normal. Your grief can evolve past that.”
And again, the story did allow me to explore the long-lasting, supernatural (across realms) effect of an animal’s love. I feel that is also not talked about enough. Just how animals make us better people. How they make the world better.
10. Finally, if someone reading this has recently lost a beloved animal and is struggling with their grief, how would you hope It’s A Wonderful Afterlife might help them?
I hope the book helps them by gently and lovingly walking them through their grief. Not shoving it under the bed where it’s not talked about, and therefore not healed from. Addressing it, but cleverly in an entertaining story, like when we were kids and fairytales and parables were the way we learned lessons. I would hope it would help them because someone is telling the story who understands what they are feeling. It shows them a way through the grief—takes them all the way through it to the other side. From crying to smiling—even laughing—thinking about our animals up at the Rainbow Bridge, going on cattle drives with God. Sending us cosmic signs. Protecting us.
I wrote it to feel like a hug from someone who loves you, who gets it. The sort of person you can cry to, but who will then make some clever joke to get you to laugh, to pull you out of it. If a reader trusts me with their grief by picking up this story, I feel they will come away from it fuller, with a more hopeful heart, and a changed perspective. I am sending big hugs to anyone going through this. Except the hugs are words in this book!
THE GIVEAWAY!!!
We have six books available to win (one per account/entry)!
To enter the giveaway: you just have to follow @aimes_wilson, @GraciesWayUK, and @abrakadabraink and share the pinned post on the account: @aimes_wilson in your Stories by 00:00 on 13.09.2026 and all six accounts will be selected at random and contacted via DM by the account: @aimes_wilson to ask your postal address and the book will be sent completely free of charge.
No comments
Post a Comment