Review: Sugar upon my Lemons

Maria Conyers, Sugar upon my Lemons (The Conrad Press 2025)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227779721-sugar-upon-my-lemons

A no-warts biography and love story, inspirational for the bereaved or anyone with a dying loved one
The prologue begins as Great Britain has suffered 40,000 deaths, including that of the narrator’s beloved, Parker. Psychotherapist Maria remembers the life she had with her wonderful husband before his sad end, though not from Covid, from cancer. It was all the sadder for the family as lockdown restrictions limited their ability to see each other during the final days; they weren’t even allowed to hug each other at the funeral.
I must stipulate, I have never read a ‘romance novel’, and I can’t imagine wanting to do so, nor do I read ‘biographies’ unless they’re about some famous person in history, and they’re more interesting if they’re warts-and-all. For me, a love story isn’t interesting unless it is set against a dramatic transition period in history or explores some aberrant psychology.
I love the title, and found it à propos, and the text is well written, though I found a few grammar mistakes. The memoir is a chronological account of their relationship, which is first tested by Maria becoming wheelchair-bound and then by Parker’s diagnosis of cancer. It is told as straight narration. Year 1, Parker and I did this. Year 2, we did that.
Some scenes were interesting enough to have been built into whole scenes. Keen to hide their love affair at first from their children, they inventing fictitious friends to tell them they are visiting, until his daughter discovers a skimpy undergarment. We need some dialogue, here. We need to experience the ‘gotcha’ moment. A family car journey that culminates with Parker backing the car all the way down a mountain road, with a child in the backseat suffering from motion sickness–that could have been a great scene. Instead, she tells it as just one more time when Parker was so wonderful. Insisting that he take a turn at cooking, the tube from Parker’s chemotherapy starts melting, leaking dangerous chemicals which start flying around the kitchen. What a dramatic anecdote! I’ve never heard of such a thing happening! I felt sure that if this incident had been recounted in a style other than straight narration, it would have been more dramatic.
Parker sounds like a really great guy, and everyone who knew him should definitely have a copy of this memoir. It would also be inspirational and useful for anyone whose loved one is dying or has died. The recounting of Parker’s last days and Maria’s struggle to love and support him through them are extremely moving. The loving care that she and her extended family gave to him during his tragic illness is truly inspiring and should provide a model for anyone faced with a similar challenge. Maria writes that “it is possible to use one’s grief as a catalyst to help others”. She includes, as epilogue, a beautiful and inspirational essay About Grief, which speaks to her experience as a psychotherapist as well as that of losing her husband, and her call for a national bereavement support scheme is well said.