"Norma and her parents are going to her great-uncle Frank's funeral, and Norma is more excited than sad. She is looking forward to playing with her favorite cousin, Ray, but when she arrives at the church, she is confronted with rituals and ideas that have never occurred to her before. While not all questions can be answered, when the day is over Norma is certain of one thing: Uncle Frank would have enjoyed his funeral. This sensitive and life-affirming...

Laurel Hand, long absent from the South, comes from Chicago to New Orleans, where her father dies after surgery. With Fay, the stupid new young wife of her father, Laurel returns to her former Mississippi home and stays a few days after the funeral for reunions with old friends. In a night alone in the house she grew up in, she confronts elements of the past and comes to a better understanding of it and of herself and her parents.

"A funeral home director discusses the environmental impact of common burial practices and provides ecologically sound alternatives that minimize the use of chemicals and non-biodegradable materials; also covers the financial and legal aspects of green burial methods"--

Journalist Erica Buist traveled to seven death festivals around the world (Nepal, Madagascar, Indonesia, Sicily, Japan, Mexico, and New Orleans) to understand how other cultures deal with death.