How do you ‘prepare’ for bereavement? Religious faith can help, as can ritualised codes of dress and behaviour that recognise different stages of mourning. But many of us feel singularly unprepared when we lose someone. No one ‘theory’ can sooth the bereaved, precisely because grief so strips us naked and profoundly wounds us. Nothing pre-cooked helps. No quick fix, no one-shot deal.

In this inspirational book, Peter J Conradi draws on literature, history and philosophy to present a broad array of different voices and perspectives on grief. His carefully chosen stories, excerpts and poems offer wisdom and consolation, but they also make us think, break down taboos and sometimes even find humour and light amidst the painful, bewildering reality of death.

Everyone’s experience of grief is different, but reading of the myriad different ways in which others have approached it can, while not necessarily easing our grief, certainly help us feel less alone.