Final-year university students Jonah and Ellen face life-threatening illness together—and discover love. As their love deepens, they embrace intimacy and creativity, courage and honesty, joy and pride.

A compelling reminder that—along the songlines of the cancer journey—when the patient is held at the centrepoint of care, and when professional and personal caregivers work as partners with profound skill and compassion, a beautiful story unfolds. Songlines is that story.

This is emeritus professor of pediatric oncology and palliative care John Graham-Pole’s third novel in his trilogy inspired by young people with cancer. It evokes an abundance of compassion, know-how, humour, and hope.

John Graham-Pole is a retired professor of pediatrics (Professor Emeritus, University of Florida). He has been a clinician, teacher and pioneer researcher in the field of childhood cancer for forty years. Educated in the United Kingdom, he co-founded the Center for Arts in Medicine (www.arts.ufl.edu) at the University of Florida, now among the world’s leading arts-and-health organizations. He is co-publisher of HARP The People’s Press (www.harppublishing.ca), which is dedicated to producing print and online publications on art and health for a diverse readership. John’s personal website is www. Johngrahampole.com and he can be found on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

John Graham-Poe's profile page

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Songlines is a beautiful love story about a young couple grappling with fatal brain cancer. Written

from the perspective of a student who is considering going to medical school and how living life on

the other side of the stethoscope changed her perspective on care giving. This is a story of

bravery and heart. Dr. John Graham-Pole channels his decades of experience working with young

people with cancer to spin a truly lovely tale about living life with meaning, and what it means to

love and care for someone at the time of their greatest need.

William Slayton, MD, Professor and Chief, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, University of Florida