Say No to Death

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.

Story outline
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.

Critical reception
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."

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."

Publication history

 * Heinemann, Australia, 1951
 * William Morrow, US, 1952, under the title The Sun in My Hands
 * Seven Seas Publishers, Germany, 1959
 * Angus & Robertson, Australia, 1967; and reprinted in 1974
 * Cedric Chivers, UK, 1973

The novel was also translated into Russian (1961), Norwegian (1963), Lithuanian (1963), Romanian (1965), Hungarian (1968), Czech (1969), German (1970), and Georgian (1975).