El sepulturero

A landmark in American literature, winner of the American Book Award and the Heartland Prize for nonfiction, and a finalist for the National Book Award.

“One of the most invigorating books I’ve read [...]. It brims with humanity, irreverence, and an exhilarating innocence.”
Tom Vanderbilt, The Nation

“A simply magnificent memoir.”
Esquire

“Every year I bury about two hundred neighbors.” This is how the singular testimony of poet Thomas Lynch begins. Like all poets, Lynch draws inspiration from death, but unlike others, he also makes a living from it: for years he has worked as a funeral director in a small Michigan town, where he handles burials, cremations, and funeral services for his community.

Narrated with the tenderness of someone who has dealt daily with the pain of others, in this unique collection of essays Lynch's two vocations meet, and he reveals himself both as a competent official of mourning and as a writer who, movingly, tunes language to the fibers of inner liberation.

Praise for the book:

“Powerful, authentic, and full of a kind of ethical and aesthetic clarity.”
Richard Bernstein, The New York Times

“Thomas Lynch proves himself a master of the essay form.”
Susan Jacoby, The New York Times Book Review

“Essays that are profoundly human and attentive to the tragic, comic, and sometimes surprising quirks of human life [...]. A broad look at what it means to be human.”
Detroit Free Press

“A surprising and eloquent reflection on death and loss [...]. If you think this book is neither about you nor for you, think twice.”
Spin

“Brings us lessons about death to life and turns life and death into art.”
Time Out

“A unheard-of and tender book. Lynch writes wonderfully [...]. Each chapter captivates us, instructs us, and illuminates how we live, die, and, above all, love.”
Elle