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  • All the Living and the Dead

  • A Personal Investigation into the Death Trade
  • By: Hayley Campbell
  • Narrated by: Hayley Campbell
  • Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (25 ratings)

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All the Living and the Dead

By: Hayley Campbell
Narrated by: Hayley Campbell
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Publisher's Summary

Bloomsbury presents All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell, read by Hayley Campbell.

We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young age, we are told that death is something to be feared. How are we supposed to know what we’re so afraid of, when we are never given the chance to look?

Fuelled by a childhood fascination with death, journalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the way, she encounters mass fatality investigators, embalmers and a former executioner who is responsible for ending 62 lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own graves, visits a cryonics facility in Michigan, goes for late-night Chinese with a detective and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear.

Through Campbell’s incisive and candid interviews with these people who see death every day, she asks: why would someone choose this kind of life? Does it change you as a person? And are we missing something vital by letting death remain hidden?

A dazzling work of cultural criticism, All the Living and the Dead weaves together reportage with memoir, history and philosophy to offer listeners a fascinating look into the psychology of Western death.

©2022 Hayley Campbell (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic Reviews

"Hayley Campbell is working out a philosophy of death by getting close to it; holding it; asking interesting questions of people who spend their lives dealing with it. This is an essential, compassionate, honest examination of how we deal with death, and how it changes the living." (Audrey Niffenegger)

"Campbell is a gorgeous writer, capturing the exquisite pathos and gallows humour found in folks who spend their lives working with the dead." (Caitlin Doughty, New York Times best-selling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes)

"A gentle book and, like death itself, sometimes an unexpectedly kind one." (Neil Gaiman)

What listeners say about All the Living and the Dead

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Fantastic

Fans of the Order of the Good Death will find a great deal to discuss from this book, it answers a great many questions regarding modern after-death care.

Production-wise, where many authors struggle to narrate their own work effectively for the listener, Ms Campbell reads clearly and with an engaging tone.

Highly recommended.

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Loved the honesty.

Kindred spirit. Answers the questions you never felt you could ask, but always wanted to know. Beautifully written.

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Brilliant narration of life after death :-)

Those tending to our needs after the fact makes a long and interesting list, while the actions of our body’s response to the end awe inspiring. A fabulous book that will be listened to again, thank you Hayley Campbell, much appreciated :-)

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Read it

Oh I love a good book and this one did not disappoint. It’s insightful, well written, well researched, and meaningful. Got to be one of the best books I’ve ever read, dead set.

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A first hand look at the death industry - done well

An honest exploration of the death industry. Hayley Campbell’s deep dive into the hidden industry of death introduces some very interesting people, explores in detail careers in death. She doesn’t shy away from detail, but is always respectful, not trying to shock or share gory detail.

A very worthwhile listen.

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All the Living and the Dead

What an incredible insight into what most people don’t get to see. Well researched, extremely well written. A must read.

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Riveting

I knew so little about death due to social attitudes. This was like opening the door and revealing the secrets that most people irrationally fear. So insightful and educational, a masterful and compassionate telling of the truth. I am so grateful to finally find out in such detail about a topic no one in my world ever wants to discuss.

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