on the first anniversary of her death, in december 1998, tal ben-shahar published "heaven can wait: conversations with bonny hicks", in which he wove together his and hicks' year-long correspondence with his own philosophical musings. the book is an extended postmodern "conversation" between two seekers journeying intensely together in a quest for meaning and purpose. it takes its title from an article hicks submitted to "the straits times" just days before her death, which ever after took on a hauntingly prophetic air. in it she wrote: "the brevity of life on earth cannot be overemphasized. i cannot take for granted that time is on my side—because it is not ... heaven can wait, but i cannot". in an earlier "strait times" piece that memorialised her grandmother, hicks confessed that she believed in life after death.