Deathcare and funeral industries Books

Book Synopsis ''Wonderful, thoughtful, practical'' - Cariad Lloyd, Griefcast''Encouraging and inspiring'' - Dr Kathryn Mannix, author of Amazon bestseller With the End in MindWe all know how this ends is a new approach to death and dying, showing how exploring our mortality really can change our lives.End-of-life doula Anna Lyons and funeral director Louise Winter have joined forces to share a collection of the heartbreaking, surprising and uplifting stories of the ordinary and extraordinary lives they encounter every single day. From working with the living, the dying, the dead and the grieving, Anna and Louise reveal the lessons they''ve learned about life, death, love and loss. Together they''ve created a profound but practical guide to rethinking the one thing that''s guaranteed to happen to us all. We are all going to die, and that''s ok. Let''s talk about it. This is a book about life and living, as much as it''s aTrade Reviewwonderful -- Cariad Lloyd * Griefcast *encouraging and inspiring -- Kathryn Mannix * palliative care doctor and author of With The End in Mind *We don't have to think about death and dying all the time but when we want to - or are forced to - how wonderful to have a manual to sustain and guide us through it all -- Sarah BrownThis book is one of the most important I’ve ever read. I couldn’t put it down -- Clemmie TelfordA truly compelling read that proves why it is so desperately important that we speak openly about death; of others' and the prospect of our own -- Elle WrightKindness, wisdom, and sensible advice for grappling with our common fate -- Caitlin DoughtyAnna Lyons and Louise Winter are no strangers to death. Between them, they have years of experience working closely with the dying and the bereaved. In their book Life. Death Whatever. Lyons and Winter blend practical information with compassionate advice which at times is less about dying and more about living. Full of real-world advice and hard-won insight, this is an honest, touching, and essential guide for each and every one of us for whom 'death is the future' -- Lindsey Fitzharris * bestselling author of The Butchering Art *This book is a total breath of fresh air and so needed for anyone who thinks dying isn’t going to happen to them because, um, it is. It’s a guide to death and dying that won’t scare the hell out of you and will in fact make you wonder why the heck you’d never considered how you want to die. A must read for all mere mortals -- Kris Hallenga * founder of CoppaFeel! *There is no formula for navigating your way through grief, or for dealing with the death of someone and I've been told so many times that there is no manual. But Life. Death. Whatever. is about as close to a manual as you're ever going to find -- Steve BlandThis book is vital – it should have been written years ago! -- Charlotte Philbya jewel of a book -- Fran Hall * CEO of The Good Funeral Guide *An intelligent, thought-provoking and comprehensive roadmap through life, death, whatever. Sensitively written and absolutely clear as day. I wish this book had been around when I lost my mother -- Ryan RileyHonest, helpful and healing; the emotionally intelligent guide to demystifying death, so we can live better lives -- Rosa HoskinsPractical, uplifting advice ... a manual for life and living – and embracing everything that life has to offer. Including the end. * Country & Town House *A fascinating book … something every single one of us needs ... I’ve never read a book like this before -- Jo Good * Radio 2 *A fantastic resource -- Georgina Godwin * Monocle *The conversation is open and honest and I don’t think I have read any other book that will have taught me as much as this one. -- Katie Hickey * Tipping the Balance Podcast *This should be required reading for all the living. * Booklist *Rare guidance through the minefield of talking to children about death ... directives about what to say or how to listen to someone is in mourning ... provide a toolbox for conversations in which we are likely to flounder. Sections such as these will ensure that We All Know How This Ends remains on my reference-book shelf. * TLS *Table of ContentsIntroduction This book begins at the end We really need to talk about death and dying Why we really don’t want to talk about it The Life. Death. Whatever. manifesto What is Five Things? What is Unsaid? Death & dying Can doulas be part of the future of end-of-life care? Why I became an end-of-life doula How to become an end-of-life doula What does a good doula look like? From doula to patient and back again When you’re first diagnosed Debunking the myths of palliative care and hospices Getting the most from your consultations with your doctor and specialist Sex and intimacy are still just as important when you’re unwell Dying doesn’t look like it does in the movies How to be there for someone when they are dying Preparing for death: doing your death admin Making funeral arrangements in advance Different places to die COVID-19: A pandemic in our lifetime ‘Out of order’ death Baby Amy The toll illness can take on relationships Assisted dying A matter of life and death The undeniable beauty in the impermanence of life Funerals Why I became a funeral director Not all funeral directors are the same How to choose a funeral director DIY funerals Seeing the person who has died can be a profound and meaningful experience What really happens after someone has died? Why would I want to see someone after they’ve died? Allowing children to do what is right for them Why funerals really matter How to have a good funeral Funerals & COVID-19 Planning your own funeral Ask a funeral director anything A truly poetic ending Grief What is grief? Your life after their death – the things we want you to know about grief Growing around grief Grief SOS How to support a grieving friend What to say when you don’t know what to say When a partner dies Grief lasts a lifetime We need to talk How to talk about death and dying How to talk to children about death, dying and grief All that’s left Unsaid Words left unspoken Life & living Regret This could be the last time The essentials of self-care Kintsugi: emotional damage and repair Everything we’ve learned about life and living from working with death and dying Get involved with Life. Death. Whatever. The dictionary of death & dying Resources & recommended reading Acknowledgements Index About the authors

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Book Synopsis‘A superlative piece of writing... provocative, loving and profound’ THE TIMES ‘Without exaggeration, an awe-inspiring achievement’ NIGELLA LAWSON ‘Moving, funny, and liable to unexpectedly cause me to tear up’ NEIL GAIMAN An Irish Times Book of the Year In this profoundly moving and remarkable book, journalist Hayley Campbell explores society’s attitudes towards death, and the impact on those who work with it every day. ‘If the reason we’re outsourcing this burden is because it’s too much for us,’ she asks, ‘how do they deal with it?’ Would facing death directly make us fear it less? Inspired by her own childhood fascination with the subject, she meets embalmers and a former death row executioner, mass fatality investigators and a bereavement midwife. She talks to gravediggers who have already dug their own graves and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear. Through Campbell’s incisive and candid interviews with people who see death every day, she asks: Does seeing death change you as a person? And are we all missing something vital by letting death remain hidden? ‘Essential, compassionate, honest’ Audrey Niffenegger, author of THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE ‘Never macabre... poignant... Transformative’ FINANCIAL TIMESTrade ReviewHayley Campbell is working out a philosophy of death by getting close to it; holding it; asking interesting questions of people who spend their lives dealing with it. This is an essential, compassionate, honest examination of how we deal with death, and how it changes the living. -- Audrey NiffeneggerCampbell weaves judicious reflections on the philosophy and history of the death industry into the reportage... Never macabre... poignant... Transformative * Financial Times *This is an absorbing and important book, seeking out stories so many shy away from and telling them with such respect, humanity, heart and, yes, wit. Without exaggeration, an awe-inspiring achievement -- Nigella LawsonThe book's tour de force is the chapter on the technicians who prepare bodies for autopsy at St Thomas's Hospital in London. It is a superlative piece of writing, one of the best essays I have read in a long time: provocative, loving and profound -- Helen Rumbelow * The Times *This book about death and about the people whose jobs and whose lives are dealing with death is moving, funny, and liable to unexpectedly cause me to tear up, reading it.... A gentle book and, like death itself, sometimes an unexpectedly kind one -- Neil GaimanCampbell is a gorgeous writer, capturing the exquisite pathos and gallows humor found in folks who spend their lives working with the dead -- Caitlin Doughty, New York Times bestselling author of Smoke Gets in Your EyesAn extraordinary journey, through scenes and characters so chilling they have their own crystalline beauty. The writing is finely felt and full of life, Campbell always finding a way to look through horror, to see humanity. So many of the images in it are heart-stopping - and by the end I was surprised to find myself sobbing. It's superb -- Rhik Samadder, author of Sunday Times bestseller, I Never Said I Loved YouA compassionate and compelling book. Fascinating and devastating in equal measure -- Charlie Gilmour, author of FeatherhoodHayley Campbell is one of Death World's most important voices. Her compassion for the living and the dead stands out amongst the endless authors currently writing about death and dying. All the Living and the Dead is an extremely important book for anyone interested in what happens to a person after they die. I really think everyone should read it in order to appreciate the respect all the invisible workers tasked with handling the dead demonstrate every day -- Dr John TroyerI spent New Year devouring this book. Essential reading if you’re a human person in possession of a life. A fascinating, searingly honest & unexpectedly tender look at those who take care of us in death. I badly needed to read this -- Tuppence MiddletonAn intriguing, candid, and frequently poignant book that asks what the business of death can teach all of us in the midst of life. Readers will form a connection with Campbell's voice as intimate as her own relationship with mortality -- Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The FacemakerThis is a brave tour through the valley of the shadow. I am happy to welcome Hayley Campbell to the Death community -- Catharine Arnold, author of Necropolis London and its DeadCampbell’s fascinating study of the manifold workers who do lay hands on the dead is eye-opening... A book about corpses might seem like a downer. Worse, the subject risks creating melodrama or glib horror out of grief. But All the Living and the Dead is surprisingly cheerful, even life-affirming. This is partly thanks to Campbell’s open-hearted, observant style of writing, which manages to be vivid without sensationalizing the horrors she records * TLS *I was blown away by Hayley Campbell’s All the Living and the Dead, her hands-on reportage of professions in the death industry * Irish Times 'Best Books of 2022' *

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Book SynopsisThe Book of Resting Places is Mira y Lopez’s account of his travels, from a cemetery to a crematorium to a cryonics company . . . He’s looking for the good death, somewhere, anywhere. —The New YorkerIn the aftermath of his father’s untimely death and his family’s indecision over what to do with the remains, Thomas Mira y Lopez became obsessed with the type and variety of places where we lay the dead to rest. The result is a singular collection of essays that weaves together history, mythology, journalism, and personal narrative into the author’s search for a place to process grief.Mira y Lopez explores unusual hallowed grounds—from the world’s largest cryonics institute in southern Arizona to a set of Roman catacombs being digested by modern bacteria, to his family’s burial plots in the mountains outside Rio de Janeiro to a nineteenth-century desert cemetery that was relocated for

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Book SynopsisAn engaging story of life and death, An Odd Undertaking features Bill Wood’s memories of his career as an undertaker in London during the 1990s. From learning the trade, to the challenging work of body removal, to humorous tales about what happens when things don’t go quite as planned, this is a thoroughly entertaining and thought provoking read. Follow Bill in the wake of the Grim Reaper as he meanders through topics as varied as funerals, exhumations and mortuary tales, while respecting the solemnity of death and quelling some of the myths and misunderstandings about undertakers and funerals along the way. An Odd Undertaking is a book that is as much about life as it is about death, a fascinating read on an unusual topic.

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