Dealing with a Death in the Family by Sylvia Murphy (published by How To Books, Plymbridge House, Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PZ, UK, tel 01752 202301; ISBN 1 85703 322 1). Reviewed by Nicholas Albery.
'Dealing with a Death in the Family' is one of a series of 150 different How To Books titles. It is full of useful advice, simply laid out, complete with checklists, case studies, discussion points and flow charts. The sample flow chart illustration given here, for instance, covers the executor's duties (in England and Wales) as regards sorting out the financial affairs of the person who has died.
The book is a good deal more reliable and helpful (especially for families organising funerals themselves) than the equivalent Which? title, What to Do When Someone Dies the latter, written by a funeral director, gave inaccurate and misleading advice in a number of places, although the correction sheet that the Natural Death Centre and others urged them to include amends the worst of these errors.
Nevertheless, it is a pity that publishers will pay for proof-readers but seem less able to pay for a fact checker. John Bradfield of the A. B. Welfare and Wildlife Trust would be the ideal candidate for such a job - he tends to find grievous errors in all the main death reference books. This 'How to' book may have less errors than some, but they do creep in. For instance, the author writes that with private land burial "there are environmental health regulations that have to be satisfied, related to the distance that the grave is to be from houses." In fact, as stated in The New Natural Death Handbook, there is no requirement to inform the council's environmental health officers of plans for burials on private land, nor do such burials require their advance permission. These officers have no powers to order exhumations. However, they do have legal powers to prevent any 'deposit' which might be 'prejudicial to health or a nuisance'. The phrase about the distance from houses is a myth that the author may have picked up from other death books. There are only recommendations (not legal requirements) from the Environment Agency as to suitable distances of graves from water courses, not from houses.
The Natural Death Handbook - Inexpensive, Green, Family-Organised Funerals is available for £14-99 (inc. p&p) from The Natural Death Centre, 6 Blackstock Mews, Blackstock Road, London N4 2BT (tel 0871 288 2098; fax 020 7354 3831; e-mail: rhino@dial.pipex.com) or you can place a secure online order.
This webpage forms part of the Global Ideas Bank (www.globalideasbank.org).
Book Orders: To order any of the other Natural Death Centre or Global Ideas Bank books.
To make a comment or to send an update, please e-mail the Global Ideas
Bank at rhino@dial.pipex.com and
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