I didn’t know what a death doula was until I read this book. I thought it might be an emotional read but I came away feeling positive and taking a good hard look at my life. If there’s one thing we all have in common it’s that we are all going to die, we just don’t know when so every second counts. Clover was a loveable character and had had a difficult start to her life. I loved reading about her memories of her grandpa, he sounded like a lovely man. Overall an enjoyable, thought provoking debut novel. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin General, Viking for letting me read and review this book.

This book is wonderful. For a story with death as a major theme, it has left me feeling uplifted and with an appreciation of living life well.

Clover is a Death Doula, meaning she is with people navigating their final days. Sometimes she provides company, other times it’s more practical. But she makes sure people die with peace and comfort. Unfortunately she hasn’t given herself the same care and she is lonely and floundering. What emerges is a story of finding yourself, letting go and being brave.

The characters are wonderful, from vivacious Sylvie to rebellious Claudia, they each bring something special to the novel. Clover herself is the perfect mix of self aware and completely clueless. I loved the writing style and how much it made me think. I’ll definitely read this author again.
Thank you NetGalley for my Arc.

I've just finished this book and oh my, I need a minute! I think I experienced every emotion possible reading about Clover's life as a death doula. What an amazingly complex and beautiful character the author has written. In fact, every character felt authentic and necessary. I didn't move once I started this book, I had to consume it as I was so immersed in this story.

So many life lessons, so much food for thought and such a life affirming tale, you cannot fail to be moved.

Writing at its best.

Wow! Amazing how a book that deals so much with death, can also brim with hope, joy and life!

Thanks NetGalley and Penguin General, Viking for the ARC!

Synopsis –

36 year old Clover is a death doula. She helps people on death bed to slip away from the world feeling better, listened to and understood. But while she dedicates herself to deal with dying people and hearing their regrets, somewhere along the way she has missed ‘living’ her own life - making friendships, finding love and most of all making sure she doesn’t end up with her ‘regrets’.

Review –

Clover, Meredith, Maame – these are all my kind of girls.

I just loved Clover! Introverted, socially awkward and self-withdrawn, and oh! a bookworm above all – I could relate to her so much. It was heartbreaking to know about her childhood, the unimaginable loss she suffered at only 6 years of age and then her struggles in school.

Raised by her grandfather, her relationship with him is truly the most beautiful thing in the book. Brammer portrays it so well via flashbacks and Clover’s treasured memories of him. I adored his pearls of wisdom for her, filled with simple yet pragmatic outlook towards life.

The best part was how Clover adopted his advice, making it her way of living. Also, I was so glad for the presence of Leo, her grandfather’s friend, who was such a blessing to keep her loneliness at bay.

I loved how Clover diligently recorded her patients’ histories, their list of regrets and most importantly what she chose to do with them. The taboo subject of death is handled with so much subtlety and sensitivity, that I was surprised how it changed my perspective towards it.

When Clover becomes doula to 87 year old Claudia, with terminal cancer, her life begins to change. Claudia, a photo journalist in the 50s was such a force to be reckoned with and it was a joy to see the rapport they both developed.

While Clover tries to help Claudia get closures from her past, she also has to grapple with her new found friendship with her neighbor Sylvie. I cheered for her all the way as she deals with her losses, makes some difficult decisions about the past she clings to, embraces the future with a hint of romance. My heart soared & leaped as Clover ‘upgrades’ her life and finds her footing in the world.

Thought-provoking, heartwarming and uplifting, Clover’s story is one that will live with me forever!

What a beautifully written book! For me, Mikki Brammer has captured western attitudes towards death perfectly: nobody really wants to talk about death and yet it’s something that we can’t deny. Having spent four years living in Mexico I was fascinated by their attitudes towards death and how they celebrate the dead every year, so when I saw the blurb for this book I was immediately grabbed. I adored Clover as a character, her profession as a death doula, and loved watching her learn to accept her own grief throughout the book. Claudia was simply wonderful with her wit and wisdom from her long life well lived and the relationship between the two women was beautifully crafted. Full of charm and humour, this book is anything but morbid and left me feeling uplifted and sure that some of the final advice Clover is given really is the way to live - “The secret to a beautiful death is to live a beautiful life.”
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for a review.

I’d describe this book as realistic fiction. The author has done a fantastic job of creating imaginary characters and situations that depict the world and society. The characters focus on themes of growing, self-discovery and confronting personal and social problems. The language is clear, concise, and evocative, with descriptions that bring the setting and characters to life. Dialogue is natural and authentic, and the pacing is well-balanced, with enough tension and release to keep the reader engaged.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I absolutely loved this book. What could easily have been a depressing read was uplifting, beautifully written and thoughtful.

The story centres around 36 years old Clover, a loner, who has been surrounded by death most of her life after watching a schoolteacher die when she was younger. Clover finds her calling as a Death Doula, offering comfort and compassion to those in there last weeks, or days, of life.

Clover has only had one relationship and that was with her grandfather, who raises her after her distant parents die in an accident whilst travelling. The snippets of their relationship are beautiful, and the warmth of their love flows through the pages. However, Clover doesn’t open herself and has been hurt in the past when she hasn’t been guarded. But then Clover meets Sebastian, then Sylvie, then Claudia – each one bringing something special into her life.

Thank you to Mikki Brammer, NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the wonderful opportunity to read this fab book. I’d give it more than 5 star if I could

The Collected Regrets of Clover is an original and moving novel that I was completely immersed in over the course of 24 hours.
Clover Brooks is a death doula in New York. Her parents died when she was six and she went to live with her grandfather. She is still grieving his death 13 years ago and lives a solitary existence with her cats and dog and an elderly neighbour for company. Clover's life changes when she meets her neighbour Sylvie and a new client Claudia.
I loved the character of Clover, she felt very real as did her often awkward interactions with those around her. Although this is a novel about death and dying it is filled with life. Clover keeps three journals where she records the regrets, confessions and advice of those she has sat with as they died and she tries to live out these regrets and advice in her own life. It's a life affirming and uplifting novel that I would recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Wow! What a book - I loved it! Such a different theme but one that I found really thought provoking. Clover is a wonderful character who does such an amazing job, that you can't help but hope that she finds herself. She is so busy caring emotionally for everyone else that she doesn't deal with what she should be in her own life. I was so happy with the outcome - it was all that she deserves after all she has been through.

Am I going to live my life differently now, having read this book? Maybe not, but at the same time, I am already thinking about what I might regret if I was at the end of my days, so perhaps it has had more impact that I thought! I can't recommend this book highly enough - read it!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review, which is what I have given.

The life-affirming, soul- uplifting book I never knew I needed. An excellent story, characters to love, beautifully written and touching- I binged it in a day.

Clover is a Death Doula and this book tells her story during a period of self reflection and self discovery. It made me stop and think about life and the priorities that we choose. Clover has collected the regrets and advice of people she's worked with and this is a peak into her thoughts on some of those.

The Collected Regrets Of Clover is the first novel by Australian-born author, Mikki Brammer. As a New York City death doula, thirty-six-year-old Clover Brooks has held a lot of dying hands; she’s listened to a lot of last words and, as a mark of respect, noted down regrets, advice and confessions.

Her kindergarten teacher, Mr Hyland was the first dying hand she held. She was interested more than upset. When she was six, her parents’ accidental death in China put her in the care of her grandfather, Patrick. Having been absent for much of his own daughter’s childhood, he took the chance to get it right with Clover, raising her to be have a strong moral compass and developing her observational skills.

It’s an unusual vocation to have and, to avoid negative reactions, she doesn’t tend to broadcast it: most people are uncomfortable talking about death. Patrick’s death, alone, while Clover was overseas, was the impetus for this choice: if Clover can prevent others dying alone, she will. Her referrals come from social workers and hospital staff.

She sees her role as being present, listening, not turning away from the painful aspects of dying. It means helping someone die with dignity and peace. Sometimes it’s just about them not being alone or helping them get their affairs in order before they go. Other times it’s about helping them reflect back on their lives and work through any unresolved issues.

She doesn’t try to make them focus on all the positive things about their life— all the things they should be grateful for; it isn’t her job to help them gloss over that reality if they don’t want to; it is to sit with them, listen, and bear witness.

Clover lives with her dog and two cats and, in between clients, doesn’t really have a social life. Raised by an introverted grandfather and with a few negative relationship experiences, Clover is wary: “Observing the world, rather than engaging with it, meant I didn’t have to invest emotionally. If I never got close to anyone, they couldn’t leave me. Or it wouldn’t hurt if they did.” Her only real friend is her elegant, elderly Black neighbour in their West Village apartment block, Leo. When a young woman, Sylvie moves into a vacant apartment, she seems intent on friendship with Clover: is it worth taking a chance?

She regularly frequents one of the numerous death cafes in New York: an idea had developed by a Swiss sociologist named Bernard Crettaz as a way of normalizing conversations around death. It’s at the Public Library death café that she first encounters Sebastian Wells, whose grandmother is dying. She’s not entirely convinced he’s genuine, to start with, wondering if he’s a predator scamming vulnerable people.

But eventually, she agrees to keep his grandmother, former photojournalist, Claudia Wells, company as she lives her last weeks and days. Claudia is an interesting and fiesty woman whose one regret involves a certain young man she met in Corsica shortly before she married.

It seems that Sebastian might be interested in more than a professional relationship but, lacking instinct and experience, she wonders how to tell if this time it might work out OK. Driving seven hours to Maine with Sebastian to possibly track down Claudia’s past lover gives Clover mixed messages about their potential compatibility…

What a fascinating topic Brammer has chosen for her tale, not a comfortable one for all readers, but definitely worth exploring. Her characters are complex and appealing for all their very human flaws and foibles, and she gives them wise words and insightful observations: “The secret to a beautiful death is living a beautiful life” and “Don’t let the best parts of life pass you by because you’re too scared of the unknown. Be cautiously reckless” are examples.

This is a moving, thought-provoking and uplifting debut novel and more from Brammer is eagerly anticipated.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Penguin General/Viking

This is stunning.
I haven’t cried hard at a book for a very very long time and this was just so sad but also so joyful.
This book follows our MC Clover who is a death doula. We follow her as she goes about her ‘day job’ but more specifically we follow her as she works with one lady: Claudia. Clover helps Claudia and her grandson, Sebastian, come to terms with the fact that Claudia has terminal cancer. We also learn that Clover was on the other side of the world when her grandad passed away and this basically led her into her line of work and we see how she copes with her grief.
Stunning. You need to read it

Blimey. I guess I should start this review by admitting I cried while reading it. More than once.

I actually chose to read this book because I have a massive fear of death. It seems to creep into my mind countless times a day and then I get little panics. It’s the whole knowing you’re not immortal, but not being able to understand that.

This book follows Clover, a death doula, who feels more comfortable surrounding herself with the dying than the living. She keeps three notebooks—ADVICE, CONFESSIONS, REGRETS—where she collects her clients’ last words. With the help of a new friend who pushes her out of her comfort zone, she embarks on a journey to try to help one of her clients not pass away with a massive regret still hanging over her.

“It frustrated me that society was so determined to quantify grief, as if time could erase the potency of love. Or, on the other hand, how it dictated that grief for someone you knew fleetingly should be equally as fleeting.”

Leo (Clover’s best friend) was my favourite character. He spoke so much wisdom and added another point of view to the story: as a widower of many years, he spoke about how your view on death changes once you hit a certain age, when your partner has long died and most of your friends are dead too. He seemed to tug at my heart every time he made an appearance in the story.

I didn’t expect to find Clover relatable, I was just intrigued by the book's subject matter, so I was surprised to find myself drawn to her. Trauma and grief affect people in many different ways, and she picked the path she did as her way of coping.

For me, although death was present the whole way through, this book contained so much more than that. With a variety of characters, tons of advice and lessons, an easy reading style and a thought-provoking subject matter, this book is a must-read.

“The secret to a beautiful death is living a beautiful life.”

Thank you to NetGalley, Mikki Brammer and Viking.

Firstly, I think that cover deserves a mention. It is beautiful and arty and inside is beautifully written to encapsulate readers.

The book is poignant and emotional. Clover has, perhaps a strange job. She works with people at the other end of the scale of life. They’re at death’s door. There is the divulging of their most inner thoughts, their regrets and so forth. She takes notes, she tries to help. It is quite captivating in its unusualness. 

She meets Claudia whose life is amazing, as she says herself. She is in her 90’s, but even she with her fulfilled life as a photo journalist, before retirement, has a regret. It sends Clover on quite an adventure. This also shows her that life, even though, a contented one, in quiet, almost isolation, can be opened up with more to be explored, in the very much living world. She discovers she can come out of her comfort zone and expand her horizons.

It’s a poignant in that it is partly about how you should try to to live life to the fullest that you possibly can.

It is a thought provoking book that is emotional as it tackles grief, but around all that, it is also heartwarming about life and truly living it without regret and if there is, then seeing if that can be remedied and not taking things for granted that you do experience in life.

I really enjoyed this book and fell utterly in love with Clover from the first chapter. Her boundless compassion for those she works with and her devotion to her late Grandfather and her upstairs neighbour Leo along with her introversion made me want to mother her. I had heard of death doula’s before but never anticipated a novel being written with one at its heart. I’m very pleased it has been written as more people need to know about their valuable work and more people would probably like to be one once they know of their existence.
I loved how Clover found that people’s last words could be divided into the three categories of Advice, Regrets and Confessions and I think Brammer is right on the money with those being the things people most want to say at the end. Reading this book made me think a great deal about how I would find staring death in the face and who would be with me and which category would my last words fit into?
A great book, slightly let down for me by the ending feeling a little rushed.

Beautifully written with lots of comic interlude s.

You cannot help but fall in love with Clover.

Great characterisation with a well thought out plot that flowed nicely.

I didn’t want my mini romance with Clover to end.

Highly recommended 5 stars from me.

Despite the morbid subject matter, this novel was truly life-affirming. It was written in a quiet, tender way, yet its introspection was still thought-provoking.

Clover was a wonderful heroine. She was characterised by her intrinsic kindness and unwavering morality. She was so giving and considerate, dedicating her life to helping others leave theirs with dignity and compassion. This made the beginning of the story all the more sad, because at that point, loneliness was routine for Clover. I deeply sympathised with the isolation Clover must have felt, desperately wanting to watch her form lasting connections. She couldn’t let herself move on from her grief and guilt over her beloved grandpa’s death. Their relationship was so sweet and Clover clearly adored him.

Each time Clover encountered a new person, I thought of them as some kind of angel sent to help her, but of course they soon showed themselves to be the layered and complicated people that they were. Luckily, some did prove to be the true friends she so desperately needed.

Overall, this unassuming yet powerful novel was led by such a kind heroine who can’t help but root for. It took me on a journey through all the emotions, ending with a feeling of hope.

Most of us don’t want to look death in the eye. We prefer to pretend it doesn’t exist and push away thoughts of it until it’s too late to deny the gritty reality. Not so for Clover, whose occupation as a Death Doula brings her face to face with death and dying on a regular basis.

“It was my honor to do that—to look them in the eye and acknowledge their hurt, to let it exist undiluted—even when the sadness was overwhelming. Even when my heart was breaking for them.”

Her gift is to accompany the dying as they make their exit. She brings kindness, care, compassion, and a listening ear to those who might otherwise die alone. Their gift to her is insight and understanding into the human condition and the regrets they might have on leaving this world.

“The most important thing is never to look away from someone’s pain. Not just the physical pain of their body shutting down, but the emotional pain of watching their life end while knowing they could have lived it better.”

Clover maintains records under the headings of wishes, regrets and confessions, and sees it as her task to try to be an accepting, calming presence in their final hours and carry out their final requests, if possible. One of those missions ends up being life changing for her.

It turns out that Clover has some unaddressed regrets of her own, ones that begin to surface as she opens herself more to others. She’s been living under the weight of unacknowledged grief since her grandfather, who helped raise her, passed away. She eventually comes to see that “Grief is just love looking for a place to settle.”

Sebastian, Claudia and Hugo help expand her narrow vision, encourage her to embrace hope, and move forward once more. This is a beautifully written book, full of profound insights and deep understanding of loss. Grateful thanks to Penguin General, Viking and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thirty-something Clover Brooks works as a Death Doula in New York. Her job essentially consists of easing people out of this life - comforting them, taking down their last wishes, keeping them company. Clover records what she learns from this process under 3 headings - advice, regrets and confession.

But spending her time with people who're dying is not why Clover doesn't have much of a life herself. No, the latter is the result of Clover's choices. Her social life is arid, almost non-existent, and in her spare time, she likes to watch movies and attend death cafes.

Clover's interest in death began early in life - when her kindergarten teacher died in front of her. After her grandfather, who brought her up, passed away when Clover was travelling the world at the age of 23, it further deepened her preoccupation with this aspect of life.

But it is after a death cafe meeting with her grandson leads to Clover's introduction to 91 year old Claudia - who is terminally ill but determined to get something done before her final farewell - that Clover finds herself in circumstances both unexpected and unfamiliar in her career as a Death Doula. Will the way that Claudia has chosen to live her vibrant life influence Clover's rather lacklustre approach to living?

For a story that features a lot of discussions on death, this book is an enjoyable and uplifting read. While some aspects of Clover's personality can seem contradictory and kind of annoying, her story is a sweet one and leaves the reader on a note of hope as well as an understanding of the importance of living life to the fullest.