Seb is a mortician for White Lilly Funerals. He's very good at his job but his work doesn't make for entertaining 'how was work today' stories. To be honest, outside of work, he's more an observer than a participant in his personal life. He is distant from his teenaged son and daughter and his wife doesn't seem to like him very much.
One day a mother brings in her dying son, Gabe, who is matter-of-fact about wanting to know what will happen when he dies. Though their meeting is short, Seb feels a bond with this extraordinary boy. Though they met only once in life, Gabe has a magical impact on Seb that will eventually lead to new personal bonds and unexpected directions in his life.
I used the word 'magical' above but this is not at all a fantasy. It's more how a chance encounter can spark something is a person's life. The publisher's blurb calls it 'A darkly comic tale with a tender heart'. I wouldn't emphasize the 'comic' as much, but tender hearted, it most definitely is.
I should warn any very squeamish readers that the author does go into detail about how bodies are prepared by the mortician. For me, this is necessary to give the reader a better sense of Seb as a person and, also, I found pretty interesting.
Zirk was born in Namibia, lived in South Africa, and emigrated to New Zealand with his family. He publishes in English and Afrikaans so I guess readers in both countries have a claim on him. He's an author I enjoy very much and Nobody Dies is still one of my favorite crime novels. If you read books in Afrikaans and crave a good read in that language, Zirk has you covered with six titles including I Wish, I Wish which was first published in Afrikaans as Ek Wens, Ek Wens. I have more of his books I want to do reviews of this year.
Keywords: loss, grieving, death, funerals, morticians
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