Theme
Loss, Grief & Farewell
From saying goodbye to grief: some stories accompany what there are hardly words for. On Fireside you'll find stories about loss and mourning by real authors – quiet, honest, and without false comfort. Read the latest stories about loss and farewell for free.
Time Signature for a Sourdough
by Cormac
An Irish baker and former musician processes his band's breakup in a refrain-driven poem, finding in the rhythm of bread-making a new, quieter measure for patience and collaboration.
Basic Dough for Everything
by Rudi
A pastry chef finds a handwritten, nameless recipe card for an uncanny 'Basic Dough for Everything' in his newly-taken-over bakery — and recounts what happened the one time he followed it, including a customer who recognized, exactly, the taste of her dead sister's kitchen in the finished bread.
The Knock at Hvammur
by Helga
A retired nurse from Iceland's Westfjords recounts a yearly knock on an unreachable window that a fisherman's widow associated with her drowned husband — and which continued after her death. A quiet, unresolved horror story caught between reason and grief.
Werther and the student's answer
by lena_brenner
Student Felix says: Werther doesn't love Lotte, he loves the feeling of loving. Lena only understands after her husband's death what he meant.
What love is like at 58
by lena_brenner
Lena compares love at 28, 34 and 58. Less fear through more loss. Finite love as the only true kind.
The man at the wrong moment
by lena_brenner
Lena meets Martin three months after her husband's death. He says one sentence she hasn't heard in grief. No fate — just one evening.
The Goulash
by WernerK
Gerda's death announces itself in a small kitchen scene — she shows Werner her goulash recipe without him understanding why. Only afterwards does he grasp what she was doing.
The Last Night Shift
by WernerK
A retired train driver recalls his last night shift – four runs Vienna–St. Pölten, thick fog, and the moment approaching Vienna when he knew it was over. A quiet final sentence about his late wife.
The House
by Sofia
Sofia's husband Michalis died in 2017. He left her his childhood home. She can neither sell it nor live in it. Sometimes she drives past on the old road and doesn't stop.
Dear Bees
by Nikolai
The tradition of telling the bees — at significant events you go to the hives. Nikolai is an engineer and doesn't believe in bad luck. He tells them anyway. Report: insulation correct, hive not opened. Then: he wishes his wife could have seen the hives. That's how she was.
Mrs Kavanagh
by Maggie
A daughter calls: her mother died, she'd had the same hairstyle every Friday for sixty years. Maggie comes and does it. The daughter says afterwards: that's exactly her. Maggie drives home, makes tea, thinks of nothing for a while.
Mr Nowicki
by Magdalena
An 81-year-old regular comes into Magdalena's pharmacy every morning at 8:15. He buys vitamin C. He comes because his wife used to come with him. Magdalena makes sure to be there at that time.
The Drawer
by Magdalena
Magdalena opens a drawer after her grandmother's death that was private in childhood. What she finds are small things without explanation. She puts everything back and closes it again.
What He Said
by JeanPierre
Jean-Pierre's father never gave compliments. In 2001 he said once: this is better than anything I made. He died in 2004. Jean-Pierre still reaches for that sentence.
The Last Performance
by Isabel
Isabel's knee announces itself in November — not pain, a weight, the beginning of a conversation. She finishes the performance, sits twenty minutes in the car. Dances twice more. Both times she knows. The body doesn't lie.
What My Grandmother Meant
by Giulia
Giulia remembers her grandmother who never said beautiful but true. Only now, in conservation work, does she understand what that meant.
The Lamb
by FionaMacAllister
Fiona tries to hand-rear a rejected lamb. It dies on the third day anyway. Her husband says nothing and puts a cup of tea on the floor beside her. A story about loss without any fuss.
First Season
by ErikL
Erik remembers the first hunting season with his father — long silence, no game, and one sentence on the way home that explains everything. His father died twelve years ago. The silence remains.
The Storm
by ErikL
An autumn storm brings down a third of Erik's forest section. He walks the damage alone. A birch that held everything gives him no explanation. Three words with his wife that evening.
The Last Service
by Beatrice
Beatrice's last service — an ordinary Tuesday. Chicken with tarragon, gratin, tarte tatin. She cooks what she knows. Cleans down as always, turns off lights as always. She expected to feel something particular. She feels tired. That seemed about right.
Mondays
by Beatrice
Pot-au-feu every Monday since 1987. A critic calls it predictable — she removes it briefly, puts it back after three Mondays. The critic never returns, the regulars never left. Last time in June 2021. It tasted exactly as it always had.
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