She was the love of his life. She's also the loudest voice in his head.
In Morfaeth, everyone knows Ben Reeves' story. He's the undertaker with the dead wife.
Ben knows how to deal with loss. It's the rest of life he's less prepared for.
Since Jo died, the days have been carefully structured - work, avoiding his mother-in-law, and his daily walk by the sea. It's a life that holds together (just about) until unlikely friendships, community, and unforeseen possibilities begin to edge their way back in.
As Ben slowly learns that loss doesn't mean life is over, he's forced to confront the things he's been avoiding - love, change, and the uncomfortable truth that carrying on might actually be allowed.
Warm, darkly funny, and quietly hopeful, "The Undertaker's Guide to Love, Loss & Other Messy Things" is a novel about what grief leaves behind, and how life, given half a chance, finds ways to surprise us again.
For readers of David Nicholls, Marian Keyes, and Mike Gayle.
Themes: grief, dark humour, second chances, small-town life, marriage, secrets.
