Michela Murgia

Michela Murgia’s novel ‘Accabadora’ follows Maria, a ‘soul-child’ informally adopted by Bonaria, a seamstress who is also a traditional Sardinian mercy-killer. Blending folklore with the post-war reality of the 1950s, the book explores motherhood, invisible female labour, and the ethics of euthanasia, and is often evoked in the contemporary Italian cultural and legal debate on assisted suicide.

Liudmila Ulitskaia

Alisa, an elderly woman, faces a minor medical incident that prompts her to confront the prospect of dying alone. Determined to retain control over her final chapter, she obtains a bottle of barbiturates from a physician. She then falls in love with and marries him. After his tragic death, she adopts his grandchild, and embarks on a new chapter of her life.

José Saramago

‘As intermitências da morte’ by Portuguese writer José Saramago explores the economic, political, religious, and ethical questions that would be raised if, suddenly, people stopped dying. Distinguishing between ‘to kill’ and ‘to give death’, this allegorical novel was invoked in the debate on the legalization of assisted dying in Portugal and of orthothanasia in Brazil.

Gustavo Rodríguez

Eufrasia Vela cares so well for the affluent elderly in Lima, that they start asking her to assist in their deaths – and the ensuing dilemmas propel Gustavo Rodríguez’s novel ‘Cien cuyes’. Approaching the problem of loneliness in aging societies with humour and without judgement, the novel has sparked debate on assisted dying at the nexus of class, caregiving, and community.

Tomás González

Suffering unbearable pain after a traffic accident left him paraplegic, Jacobo has decided to die in Oregon, where a doctor is willing to assist him; in the meantime, his Colombian-immigrant parents anxiously await news in NYC. Told from the perspective of the painter David, Jacobo’s ageing father, González’s 2011 novel has sparked discussions about assisted dying in Colombia and beyond.

Sofía Almiroty

In Sofía Almiroty’s debut novel, Ariana takes her grandmother Rosa, whose skin is ravaged by a rare cancer, to say goodbye to the town where Rosa grew up; they hope to have enough morphine to keep the pain at bay. Set in Argentina, the novel was published in Spain, where assisted dying has been legal since 2021 – as opposed to Argentina, where it remains a crime.