If you have a morbid side (like me), you'll love Hayley Campbell's All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work. I've always been fascinated by this topic but have never read anything quite as original as this.
Each chapter focuses on someone who has a key role in death. This not includes the professions you typically think of (like funeral directors, embalmers, crematorium operators and gravediggers), but also people who work quietly behind the scenes (like crime scene cleaners) doing something no one else wants to (or has the stomach) to do. Campbell follows these people as they do their unheralded work, writing absolutely fascinating accounts of why each person is in their profession. Some accounts are truly heartbreaking, such as the one of the bereavement midwife.
I loved this book and found myself enthralled with each chapter. All the Living and the Dead takes people right into the death industry, wondering why we allow death to remain so hidden.
MY RATING - 5
This book's expected publication date is August 16, 2022.
