After Elizabeth’s mother died, she became a little obsessed with death. Her Barbies had elaborate funeral processions, and she became the go to girl when a beloved pet needed a proper send-off. Teenage Elizabeth could often be found relaxing in the cemetery or funeral crashing. 

She was in seventh-heaven when she landed a gig as a graveyard caretaker in college. She moved up to the big leagues as an assistant director at a funeral home chain and bought her first hearse she christened Lucrezia. Dealing with the recently departed and their loved ones wasn’t the place she expected to find love, but there it was, in the form of the cremator who worked in the basement.  

The two madcap undertakers took a leap of faith when Elizabeth opened her own eco-friendly funeral home in what was formerly a goat barn in the middle of someplace or other. You’ll adore Elizabeth’s look back at how she developed her green funeral options, despaired at the leaky roof, and gave birth to a fairy child who could talk to the dead, named after the Catholic Patron Saint of Widows and Widowers.

The concept of death has become so sterilized over time that we’ve forgotten how to approach death with respect and awe. We’ve also lost our sense of self, as part of the larger whole. After all, “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3:19 KJV) The author candidly shares the struggles she overcame to bring to life her vision of a proper service and burial unique to each grieving family. You’ll laugh, roll your eyes, and shed a few tears as you read this amazing memoir, The Green Reaper: Memoirs of an Eco-mortician.

Elizabeth Fournier is also the author of The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything You Need to Plan an Affordable, Environmentally Friendly Burial.