And that’s what Rupert, Ru for short, Callender, the author, is trying to do, to de mystify the whole mystery the whole mystery that leads up to the curtains fluttering shut as they swallow your loved one. He is known as ‘the punk undertaker’ and as he says in the Patti Smith quote which he references several times in the book ‘People have the Power.’ He also says that ‘Death is not my friend neither is it my enemy. It is my destiny.’ Working in healthcare made me realize that while the death of a person is almost always a sad event, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be glad for the life, the person they were! White Lotus stars Meghann Fahy and Leo Woodall kept romance private over fears they would 'disrupt the show' Thanks to NetGalley and Chelsea Green for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review. A fascinating insight into Life's oldest ritual. Dead interesting.' - Ronan Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul

Jodie Foster, 61, and her son Kit, 22, enjoy RARE outing together as they bundle up in chic winter fashions for chilly Big Apple stroll Beauty fans race to buy new ceramide-rich skincare line that's so effective fine lines virtually DISAPPEAR: 'Have noticed results after using it morning and night' Jennifer Lawrence exudes wintertime chic in beige scarf and leather gloves as she enjoys NYC stroll with son Cy, one, after Thanksgiving

Reverend Cassius Francis

An orphan in his late twenties, Callender came across The Natural Death Handbook and it sealed his future. He’d been expelled from school and blown his inheritance; acid house culture had given him a sense of community. Now he had a vocation. The first funeral he coordinated was for a postman named Barry. The fourth was a suicide. Their first child burial was one of his partner’s daughter’s classmates. He spends time (as much as it takes) discussing arrangements with them, sensing ‘who needs the cup of strong tea, who needs to be given a wide berth for the moment because of their seething anger, who needs to be joked to’. Shoppers' secret to Zen: NEOM's bestselling electric diffuser is on sale with 30% off this Cyber Weekend (it fills your home with fragrance for 7 hours)

On the couch: FIVE surprising ways you can use a psychology degree - from clinical and occupational to forensic psychology I'm A Celebrity's Jamie Lynn Spears speaks out on her relationship with sister Britney, as she admits: 'Family's fight. Listen, we just do it better than most' To me, undertakers are very polite, but quiet, professional and stoic individuals who help make a terrible day go as smoothly as it can. They show respect and they swallow their own feelings on the day. They don’t seem to get affected by the continuous death. They become symbols of death and of the funeral industry, rather than as individuals, and I think that’s where Rupert is trying to change things. Don’t get me wrong, he seems like a polite man, professional, caring, stoic in the presence of grief (I haven’t met him so he may not be any of these things at all but I hope he is), but he reminds us that undertakers and funeral parlour employees, and priests and celebrants are all human, and working hand-in-hand with death on a daily basis will of course have a huge toll on them, but it also gives them a huge understanding of bereavement. Patsy Kensit 'rekindles romance with property tycoon fiancé' Patric Cassidy four months after splitting We are taken on a journey through Rupert's life, whilst getting a more detailed look at the industry of death and funerals.If I’d not listened to this on audio, I probably wouldn’t have finished it. Reading it as a physical book, I’ve no doubt I’d have given up on it within the first chapter or two.