What Remains?: Life, Death, Ritual and the Human Art of Undertaking

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Emmerdale's Isabel Hodgins is engaged! Star shares heartwarming clip of the moment her fiancé Adam Whitehead popped the question It's a book destined to join the greats of counterculture nonfiction, like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Cosmic Trigger and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.' - CJ Stone, author of Fierce Dancing

Later, in the front office by the fire, we talked about building pyres and pyramids in a forest clearing.Ru Callender was moved to become an undertaker through his experience of bereavement and its aftermath. He spent much of his childhood in the hospice where his mother worked, and the caring humanistic philosophy of the hospice movement is central to his work. He opened The Green Funeral Company with Claire in 2000 and the company is now among the country’s best-known eco-friendly funeral directors. In 2012, they won Joint Best Funeral Director at the first Good Funeral Awards and were described as ‘The best undertakers of all time, by a country mile’ by Good Funeral Guide author, Charles Cowling. Ru and Claire spoke at TEDx Totnes on death, grief, ritual and radical funerals. In 2021, Claire left the company and Ru continues with a new colleague. Dean McDermott reveals he spent Thanksgiving at sober living facility and NOT with Tori Spelling and their kids So why do we continue with the maudlin rituals of the modern funeral? Partly religion, partly the history of funerals and family expectations and more..

It was an extraordinary time, the week or so in which her body laid in state…Her schoolmates all coming to see her body, the worry and discomfort of all of their parents contrasting so completely with the insouciance of the kids, their absolute normality around her body…it was a ceremony filled with the chatter of children, the singing of familiar nursery songs and, at the end, everyone filed past her open coffin to sprinkle rose petals on her body. By the time Tallulah’s mother shut her bamboo coffin for the last time, she was already buried under a drift of red petals. Callendar went all in on undertaking as a career, very much seat of his pants, but with the goals of speaking the truth of the deceased and building a community. The rest of the book details Callendar's growth in this field, from the early funerals to specific ones that challenged him and the creation of a partnership (and marriage) and eventually dissolution of the partnership with his ex wife Claire. A frequent counterpoint and focus of his ire is on the funerary industry as it exists in the United Kingdom. All this before a ending chapter about Callendar's part in a music/media festival with his heroes.Strictly's Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola fuel romance rumours as they pose for cosy photoshoot with fans saying they are a 'match made in heaven'

As someone who's familiar with the death positive movement, it's interesting to compare Callender's approach to writing and the industry to a similar author and creator like Caitlin Doughty. Callender explicitly says at the beginning of the book that death scares him. What Remains? is a deeply moving book that will change the way readers think about life, death and the all-important end-of-life experience. As Ru memorably says, ‘Death has shown me unimaginable horror, the unbreakable core of love and courage that lies at the heart of what it means to be human.’ Strictly fans AGREE with Shirley Balls as she 'rips Layton Williams to shreds' by insisting actor finds American Smooth 'difficult' Rupert remains foremost an undertaker working in South Devon, and his company is called The Green Funeral Company. Ariana Madix arrives at Dancing With The Stars rehearsals clutching a pain killer bottle with boyfriend Daniel Wai by her side as she continues to dominateThanks to NetGalley and Chelsea Green for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.