| Say No to Death | |
| Author: | Dymphna Cusack |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Publisher: | Heinemann |
| Release Date: | 1951 |
| Media Type: | |
| Pages: | 324pp |
| Preceded By: | Come in Spinner |
| Followed By: | Southern Steel |
Say No to Death (1951) is a novel by Australian writer Dymphna Cusack. It was originally published in Australia by Heinemann, and later in the US by William Morrow under the title The Sun in My Hands.[1]
Set in Sydney following the war, the novel follows the medical journey of Jan, a young woman suffering from tuberculosis, and her struggles to gain any help from a Government health service struggling for funds.
A reviewer in The Age was impressed by the novel: "'A novel built entirely around a social injustice is a rarity, but with competence and courage Dymphna Cusack, in Say No to Death, has presented the subject of the tuberculosis patient and, in a story of heroism, pathos and great sympathy, put the case for the sick civilian at the mercy of a Government — a Government and a people — who respond to the needs of the scourge of war so much more readily than to the scourge of illness...This is a book well worth reading, as much for the story as for the message it carries."[2]
A reviewer in The Mercury had a similar view: "In painting her characters all typically Australian - Miss Cusack has reached unusual literary heights. She shows a deep knowledge of the vagaries of human nature. The unexpected, courageous ending gives the final touch to a novel which must rank high in Australian literature."[3]
The novel was also translated into Russian (1961), Norwegian (1963), Lithuanian (1963), Romanian (1965), Hungarian (1968), Czech (1969), German (1970), and Georgian (1975).[9]