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Ashes To Admin Paperback – March 2, 2023

by Evie King (Author)

4.5 541 ratings

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‘I’ve a body out the back for you...'

Imagine having that sentence said to you. And then imagine it actually being pertinent. Welcome to Evie King’s world.

What happens if you die without family or money? The answer to this very three-in-the-morning question is that Evie, or someone like her, will step in and arrange your funeral.

Evie is a local council worker charged with carrying out Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act. Or to put it in less cold, legislative language; funerals for those with nobody around, willing or able to bury or cremate them.

Ashes to Admin lifts the coffin lid on some moving and unexpected personal life stories. Sometimes tragic, as with the case of an unidentified woman found on a beach buried without even a name, but often uplifting and occasionally hilarious.

Ultimately, Evie discovers that her job is more about life than it is about death, funerals being for the living and death being merely a trigger to rediscover a life and celebrate it against the odds.

'Evie's memoir of a life spent organising what were until recently still known as 'pauper's funerals' is by turns hilarious and heartfelt. It lifts the lid on the lives, and more importantly the deaths, of our country's forgotten people, dignifying them, and shaming our nation. It's a cliché, but I laughed and I cried and I realised I have wasted my life. A kind of campaigning journalism written in the witty and waspish tone of the funniest woman in the workplace, it should be essential reading for policy makers. I can't recommend this book enough. A Road To Wigan Pier for post-Brexit Britain. Poverty Porn in reverse, raising the spirits, dignifying the human experience, and demanding action'
– Stewart Lee

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mirror Books (March 2, 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1915306302
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1915306302
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.8 x 0.79 x 5.04 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,804,520 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #174,473 in Biographies (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 541 ratings

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Evie King

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'Evie King' is a council worker and writer. A former stand up comedian, she has always written short form pieces in the margins of her various day jobs, contributing to New Humanist, Guardian Comment is Free, BBC Comedy and Viz Comic. Since moving to the seaside and going part-time she has had more time for writing and has completed her first book about her job arranging council funerals under her pen name.

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4.5 out of 5

541 global ratings

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Amazon Customer

Brilliant!

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2023

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I really enjoyed this book thoroughly, Evie King is a real hoot! I was sad when I finished the book, I wanted more of these incredible stories. I hope she has plans for another book, I will be there first in line to read it.

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Kindle Customer

Tales from a public administrator

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2023

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The author works in England performing the duties that are performed in the US by county public administrators. She handles the funerals and final affairs of those who die without friends or families or anyone willing or able to make their final arrangements or settle their final affairs. She describes several of her cases in depth. How she does her job makes for very interesting reading, and the author takes great satisfaction in her work, in essence serving as a friend or relative for those without any. Her thoughts on life, dying, and death, and the relationship between them, are thought-provoking, heart-felt and compassionate. She really does care about her "clients" and is wonderful at turning otherwise heart-rending events into something meaningful and significant. She does use a lot of English slang (never in a disrespectful way) and terms and names unfamiliar to most Americans, so you will find yourself consulting a dictionary and/or the Internet quite frequently.

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Top reviews from other countries

Dr Jason Smith

Thought-provoking study of death and life

Reviewed in Germany on March 7, 2023

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Fascinating insight into how the final journey is made when there is no one to accompany you. It’s good to know there are people like Evie giving those who have lost contact with family or society a dignified and respectful send off.

Elliot R.

Turns Everyday Stories Into A Truly Great Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

It's a magical thing that people like Evie King even exist: alongside the person who ensures those without families still get a funeral are the least well-paid, most compassionate employees of an unforgiving system, somehow doing the jobs nobody else will do and - even more perplexing - going the extra mile.

What makes it so special is that it finds gold in nothing more than the mundane - that what is essentially an admin job unlocks so much wonderful stuff. Much is written on the banality of evil but this is about the banality of goodness. From the manoeuvring through rules and regulations to the minutiae of Google searches; in the trivial there is greatness waiting to be surfaced.

This book is a masterpiece through not trying to be a masterpiece. Evie just tells her stories and we are enlightened accordingly. But she also does the rare thing of mixing compassion with very funny dry humour - and in the process is straightforward and honest. She doesn't play humble or worthy, she openly writes about feeling great when she succeeds - something most people can relate to I think.

I'll confess I had previously heard of Evie's job and thought it so amazing that I bought the book in a moment of patronising payday largesse. What a fool I am. This book deserves your attention because it is just so good: funny, touching, relatable and just something you'd probably never have heard of if the book didn't exist. I loved it.

7 people found this helpful

KBro

I loved this read

Reviewed in Australia on September 4, 2023

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Expertly told and funny with a bit of sadness thrown in to bring it all back to earth. I really hope Evie (CM) continues to write and provides as sequel to this very entertaining book. There must be loads more she left out!

Tubes

An 'essential' read - time to grow up

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 24, 2024

Verified Purchase

A book club book that I was grateful someone chose.
I groaned when I saw the next book for my book club. What a pleasant surprise.

The starting point - arranging funerals for people who, at first thinking, are alone with no one to organise or pay for one. Sounds grim, but the story is the life, not the death.

The humour within is excellent and so important in telling a story of helping the dead - helping to celebrate their lives, not focus on the sadness of their deaths.

Death does not delete a life.

This is a book it might well read again. It is not morbid. It is real. It lifts the curtain in the Wizard of Oz.

It is sobering without being morbid.
It gives some advise but focuses on the work of the author who went above and beyond to reunite the dead with friends and families.

Please read this book.

One person found this helpful

Moira Jean Hills

Heartwarming with a few tears.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2023

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I didn’t know what to expect but it had lots of humour, heartbreak and a brief insight into what is alluded to as a paupers funeral. It’s good to know there are people out there trying to gain insight into a life, well lived or not. Also make a list of your wishes to family or friends regarding your last chapter.

One person found this helpful

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