The Death of a Child is a collection of a dozen essays in which parents and siblings tell their own stories of losing a child, brother or sister, and of how they have coped with bereavement and grief.

Their experiences range from the earliest losses—actress and author Carol Drinkwater's miscarriages, Irish writer Catherine Dunne's still-birth and the death of Sarah Brown's daughter Jennifer at ten days old—right up to campaigner Augusto Odone losing his severely disabled son, Lorenzo, the day after his 30th birthday, or novelist Wendy Perriam coping with the death of her daughter, Pauline, when she was 43.

The essays reflect the different causes of bereavement—illness (brief and long-term), accident, and malice. The collection ends with a reflection by the celebrated psychotherapist, Dorothy Rowe, on surviving the loss of a child, and a glossary of useful organisations.