Are memoirs of elderly parents asking for death the Next Big Thing in the mis lit genre? A few years ago misery literature was hailed as the book world's boom sector, but sales have flagged recently, perhaps because stomachs which dine on relentless gloom satiate quickly. However, Imperfect Endings: A Daughter's Tale of Life and Death, to be published this month, could revive its fortunes.

Zoe Carter tells the story of her independent mother Margaret, who is suffering from Parkinson’s disease and thinks that it is time to make an exit – with her three daughters looking on. New York Times blogger Paula Span, of “New Old Age”, says that the book “blends family history with clear-eyed exploration, examining not only [the author’s] mother’s motives but also the complicated responses of her children and grandchildren”. “I could quote from the book all day,” writes Ms Span. In the end, Margaret just starves herself to death.