Past Mortems

Let Carla Valentine, mortician and curator - the mistress of death and high queen of the specimen jar - tell the truth about, in her words: 'exactly what happens when the mortuary doors swing shut or the lid of the coffin closes.' Part memoir and part manifesto, Valentine's book lifts the lid on daily life in the mortuary . . . Valentine bares her own soul . . . with visceral attention to physical and emotional detail' - Wendy Moore, Guardian'A fascinating portrait . . . one seriously intriguing read' - Glamour'A grisly topic, but a glorious read' - Mail on SundayA day in the life of Carla Valentine - curator, pathology technician and 'death professional' - is not your average day. She spent ten years training and working as an Anatomical Pathology Technologist: where the mortuary slab was her desk, and that day's corpses her task list.Past Mortems tells Carla's stories of those years, as well as investigating the body alongside our attitudes towards death - shedding light on what the living can learn from dead and the toll the work can take on the living souls who carry it out. Fascinating and insightful, Past Mortems reveals the truth about what happens when the mortuary doors swing shut or the lid of the coffin closes . . .