The Curious Life and Many Deaths of an Obituarist

This charming, poignant and frequently funny tale takes us behind the scenes at The Times obituaries desk and reminds us that life is for living.

It all began with a charismatic Dutchman who one day was speaking with passion in Parliament and the next was dead .

Inspired by the vivid life and sudden death of eccentric traffic engineer Hans Monderman, Damian Arnold began a career writing obituaries for The Times. Rather than being morbid, Damian’s job is life-affirming, because every day he sees what can be crammed into a good one. In the space of a week he might relive the 1966 World Cup final, march into battle with a Second World War soldier, and hang around in space with an astronaut.

In his own life, Damian has a close but complicated relationship with his father, Hugh – a figure of granite certainty. But Hugh is becoming forgetful, his mind operating in a loop. Dementia has featured in any number of deaths Damian has written about. He knows its onset will take several years to reach its inevitable conclusion. And that he’ll eventually be required to write his own father’s obituary.

Full of delicious charm, often poignant but frequently funny, The Curious Life and Many Deaths of an Obituarist is an unforgettable story about finding meaning in life.

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