A gloriously warm summer afternoon in February 2013 suddenly turned into a nightmare from which there was no escape and no respite. In one horrifying moment – the moment every mother dreads – Jami Yeats knew her life would never be the same again. When the ambulance took young Sam away there was still the tiniest sign of life. But Jami knew from the first scream that her baby was gone. That is where this story begins. But it also begins long before that, and is a story that will never end. Sam & Me and the Hard Pear Tree is both a personal account of a mother’s ultimate loss and a universal message of growth and hope. Sam’s tragic death forces Jami to confront other personal truths about herself, her life, and Sam’s older, special needs brother, Jack. Jami shares her story with searing honesty and a wry sense of humour. It is a book about grief and grace, self-discovery and synchronicity, and fear and faith. Faith that Sam is still with us; faith that death is not the end; faith in the kindness of strangers; and faith in herself and the strength of her family. Jami ultimately learns that love truly can survive the separation between this world and the next.