Lieke Marsman, a Dutch poet, novelist, and philosopher, has been remembered through her final work, *On Another Planet They Can Save Me*, published posthumously following her death earlier this year at the age of 35. Since 2017, Marsman had battled a rare form of bone cancer, enduring numerous treatments and medical interventions throughout her illness.

The book intertwines extended essays with personal journal entries that offer a candid and often intimate glimpse into her experience living with terminal cancer. It begins before the amputation of her arm, chronicling the many physical and emotional challenges she faced — including seven surgeries, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and experimental immunotherapy. Despite the breadth of medical care, including frequent scans and diagnostic procedures, Marsman’s condition eventually shifted from curative to palliative.

Throughout her writings, she confronts the inevitability of death with a mixture of stark realism and philosophical reflection. Marsman describes the progression of her illness in detail, noting the presence of metastases in her lungs that would ultimately lead to suffocation. She expresses a profound sense of isolation and frustration at the distance between her private experience and the public’s limited understanding. “My death is not ‘an event in my life’. It is my life’s limit,” she writes, underscoring the fundamental solitude of terminal illness even amid medical and social support.

Though the tone can be raw and anguished, the work is also imbued with intellectual energy and wit. Marsman explores a range of topics from literature and poetry to quantum physics and UFO history, all serving as points of reference and means of escape from the harshness of her physical condition. She reflects on her turn from lifelong atheism toward a consideration of spirituality, acknowledging the uncertainty and mystery of existence.

Marsman’s voice remains sharp and at times humorous, illustrated by a tweet she posted around the time of her amputation that conveyed her characteristic wit despite suffering. The book’s translator, Sophie Collins, has been noted for capturing the nuanced complexity of Marsman's thought and style.

*On Another Planet They Can Save Me* stands as a profound testament to Marsman’s confrontation with mortality, offering insights that are both deeply personal and universally resonant. It highlights the difficult interplay between hope, despair, and the search for meaning in the face of terminal illness.