I found this uplifting and heartbreaking all at once.

To read the different stories and be impacted by each one in a different way really surprised me. When you read about death you have an expectation for it to be quite a sombre read and maybe even depressing but I didn’t feel like it was depressing in anyway!

Absolutely loved this book!

Kate & Linda you are amazing!

I was hooked throughout and couldn't put this book down.

Thank you for accepting my ARC request.

4 heartfelt stars

“Of course, tears were shed. They were bereft but there was also lots of laughter and love, lots of stories.”

“I’ve lived among the dead for longer than I would have thought, and they have taught me more than I could ever have imagined.”

Kate Marshall is a worker in the hospital mortuary in England. She is not an experienced writer. Sentences are occasionally choppy or material a bit repetitious. (Linda Watson-Brown is the ghost-writer for this book.) Marshall is a kind, sensitive person with an important story to tell. The writing is heartfelt, honest and simple, making the book appealing. The conversational style is like talking to a friend.

A few parts are gross, dealing with body stuff. The author(s) handle things as sensitively as possible. I recommend skimming over yucky parts or skipping a few paragraphs. This did not get in the way of me enjoying the book and learning from it.

The last two months of Marshall’s year were when Covid started. “There was no slow decline, it had just hit them like a ton of bricks. They (patients) were actually having to make a decision which could kill them, just in the hope that they might be one of the few who were saved.” Her personal account did a great job of conveying the desperation of those early times that we are already forgetting. “It was horrible, I just felt like I wanted to get away… every aspect of Covid was already relentless…the emotional drain was relentless, even having conversations with doctors who were in tears was relentless. Every aspect was so draining… People will never get over these things. Not saying goodbye, not seeing loved ones in person. It felt like a plague, like we were in some surreal futuristic hell.”

The following blurb from the publisher sums up well. “Sorry for Your Loss is haunting, uplifting and informative, with many moments of laughter, and shows us that the way we approach death can make life all the more precious.”

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was definitely different but interesting all at the same time. Working in a mortuary is for someone who doesn't mind helping the dead but is not for me. It was very interesting to hear how she worked there and what she did on a daily basis. I liked how it described different scenarios including stillborn and miscarriage. I have always wondered what happened after my stillborn. This book is not going to be for everyone, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Many thanks to the publisher, author and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

Kate Marshall writes an emotional, yet uplifting and funny first hand account of someone working within a mortuary. It's an area, not all that commonly covered within Bio/Memoirs and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about 'the other side'.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. Just a little too morbid for my liking right at this moment.

A very emotional read, that uncovers the mysteries of life in a hospital mortuary after death. It is not written in a morbid way, but in a gentle chatty way that uncovers the secrets to enable people to have more idea of the process.

Touching, insightful, honest, and at times even funny. However, I was unable to read it all at once, due to the nature. Consuming large portions of this book was a bit hard times, but in a way that makes you reflect about life. Recommend to certain readers that have the capacity to digest content about death.

A gritty and engaging look behind the curtain, handled with such emotional depth and respect. Sorry for Your Loss is a fantastic and eye opening read that puts things into perspective. Very well written and informative.

A glimpse into the world that no one wants to think about however, this book is written with absolute kindness and respect. I learnt huge amounts and was genuinely touched by how beautifully written many parts of this book were.

The author comes across as incredibly caring, someone who I would like to be looking after my loved ones in that situation.

I think for me the timing was off. I lost my dad and some of this was just too difficult

However what I will say is this is a very well written, sensitive and informative read.

I would reread it for certain

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was interested in this book because I have read and enjoyed a few other nonfiction books about the death industry (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers), and expected this one to be similar. The author works in a mortuary at a hospital in England, and I did learn a lot about the differences between the roles that a hospital mortuary, a coroner, and a funeral director each play after someone has passed.

I found the author to be extremely respectful of the dead that she worked with over the years, and I liked the stories she told about memorable individuals, funny situations, or even conflicts with families. It was nice to think there are people like her keeping the memories of people alive after they pass on, even though she didn't know almost any of the hospital patients personally before their death.

However, this book is in need of some serious editing, and maybe that will change by the time it is published since I was reading an advance copy. The stories told by the author, while interesting, felt almost entirely unorganized. It was difficult to read because I often had no idea where the author would go next, and stories jumped randomly from one to another. I was left wishing the chapters were organized by specific themes at least, or that there was more to tie the individual stories together. It was like reading someone's train-of-thought diary rather than a finished book.

Interesting, engaging and oftentimes humorous and poignant account of a mortuary attendant in the year leading up to and including the beginning of the SARS2/COVID outbreak in the UK. As someone who comes from a health information/hospital background, I found the tales all too familiar from a medical records/coding perspective - and found it extremely interesting to read about what happens after discharge/death - the period after which my involvement ends. Being from Canada, I found it especially interesting to read about the process that occurs in the mortuary for patients viewing the body as this is not the same process in Canada; it speaks to a greater continuity of care, perhaps, where the family is afforded an opportunity to spend as much time as needed with their loved one without the pressure of medical staff needing to clear out a hospital bed for the next patient.

This was a really interesting read. Whilst in places it certainly wasn’t easy, it answered the sort of questions you would never want to ask, and is carefully written enough that it is not “entertainment” but “informative”.

Fascinating.

A very emotional read, but actually one that I think everyone should read because after all it’s all part of life.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Very interesting read. Death always has people with lots of questions. Sometimes to scared to ask. I learned a lot. It was very well written

An unusual but highly interesting book of a lady that works inside a hospital mortuary.

It's surprising how much you don't know about something and this is definitely one of the area's that's got away especially in a hospital where we know so much about the different departments, not once has anyone really ever given us anything about this department, I mean yeah sure on films there's a bundle of dead bodies in those shows that have murder and death in them but this is a very unique and different side and gives a refreshing and certainly a very eyeopening side to death and dignity within death.

I was fascinated to read about the different types of death such as people who had been undiscovered for months, yeah I knew it went on but I just didn't know until recently that is what happened, I sort of knew sketchily the procedure but not fully.

I picked this book mostly because my nan passed away recently and it wasn't a straight forward death, she too had to go to the coroners, have a postmortem and then she was kept until the process was over. I know now that she would have been alright, I didn't get to see her, but she wouldn't have been alone, someone was ensuring that she was looked after, kept and preserved well enough and I appreciate that.

I totally recommend this book for the eyeopening experience you will have and for the things you will learn that you definitely weren't aware went on.

Thanks to netgalley and publishers for this rare chance, in return for my review.

This was a unique, thought provoking behind-the-scenes insight into what it’s like working in a hospital mortuary.

It was interesting reading about all the different people Kate Marshall met during the first year of her employment. I also enjoyed the reflections and thoughts from Kate, adding a truly unique look into what actually happens after someone passes away in the hospital.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher, for a chance to read and review this book.

I’m not a big non-fiction reader. I may look at the blurb but then normally, I just pass them by. However, there was something I found curiously intriguing about Sorry For Your Loss. I had a friend who was married to a U.S. mortician so I am familiar to some of the workings. However, a mortuary at a north of England NHS hospital and what someone learned from it, call me morbid but it definitely sparked my interest.

Sorry For Your Loss is beautifully written and author Kate Marshall an provided an excellent view into her world. That said I can see how this book may not be for everybody. If you get icked easily or struggle to handle death, be it a loss of a child, a family member or total stranger, you may want to pass on it. The author does not shy away from any of subjects as she shares death from a medical POV while still providing a caring aspect to each loss The stories she shares run the gambit from gut-wrenching sadness to humorous.

Yes, death is a harsh reality and the perspectives Kate provides is insightful, even educational. I have always been exposed to death and accepting it as a natural progression of life. However, there has always been that mystery between what happens once someone has been pronounced dead and making it to a funeral home. The author provides insight into what happens, at least where she works, and I find it very satisfying to now have an idea. Certainly TV does not portray it this way, always being so cold, clinical and faceless. Kate gives me hope that there are people who really do care, see a person and not just a random toe tag.

A word about the timeline. The author is sharing her experiences of a year’s time. Her first year in fact and to be quite honest, I gave little notice to the exact ‘when’ when all this occurred. It was just happening over a year. No big deal, right? Or so I thought because now I am fully aware Kate’s book begins in 2019 and drifts into 2020. The year of Covid. The year the world changed. I was an essential worker and thankfully not in the medical field. The view Kate shares, dealing with the death, fear, uncertainty, it’s enough to bring back all that fear and sadness we as a world all shared.

Sorry For Your Loss: What Working with the Dead Taught Me About Life by Kate Marshall is a must read. I highly recommend it and dare anyone who reads it to not come away changed.


Stars: 5

This book gives a peek at behind the scenes of a Mortuary and the NHS health system in the UK about what happens after death. I will say reading this from an American audience perspective, they seem to give a lot more respect to the dead over in the UK. Author Kate, who writes from firsthand experience, describes people being unable to say their final goodbyes to their loved ones and bodies staying in the mortuary for months on end. I say this because this would never happen in the US, where they usually cremate unclaimed bodies within a few days and then the box of ashes gets stored. Unless criminal activity is involved, and even then I would guess there is a limit to storing the body, letting the deceased reside in a freezer environment is highly unlikely in the US.

As a health care provider myself, I really appreciated the warmth and respect emanating from the pages. You can tell Kate truly values her job and giving the grieving families the best she has to offer. While I work "with the living" as she reports many providers do in the book, I understand and empathize with the necessity to respect the dead and let people grieve. And not all grief looks the same.

It was difficult reading some of the stories, especially the ones about babies and small children, but again you can tell she really tried to give the deceased a proper and dignified send off. Such an interesting contrast to the system in the US.