Surprise Castle
Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter

Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter - Paperback

$13.99
$18.99
-26%
Quantity
01

Pay over time for orders over $35.00 with

Availability:In StockContributor:E. B. BartelsPublish date:11/11/2025Pages:272
Language:EnglishPublisher:Mariner BooksISBN-13:9780063470750ISBN-10:63470756UPC:9780063470750Book Category:Pets, Biography & Autobiography, NatureBook Subcategory:Essays & Narratives, Memoirs, AnimalsSize:8.00 x 5.31 x 0.61 inchesWeight:0.6504Product ID:SC5NC78HPS

"A wonderful, unusual, and healing book. . . Read this book to affirm that love never dies, and you are not alone."--Sy Montgomery

An unexpected, poignant, and personal account of loving and losing pets, exploring the singular bonds we have with our companion animals, and how to grieve them once they've passed.

E.B. Bartels has had a lot of pets--dogs, birds, fish, tortoises. As varied a bunch as they are, they've taught her one universal truth: to own a pet is to love a pet, and to own a pet is also--with rare exception--to lose that pet in time.

But while we have codified traditions to mark the passing of our fellow humans, most cultures don't have the same for pets. Bartels takes us from Massachusetts to Japan, from ancient Egypt to the modern era, in search of the good pet death. We meet veterinarians, archaeologists, ministers, and more, offering an idiosyncratic, inspiring array of rituals--from the traditional (scattering ashes, commissioning a portrait), to the grand (funereal processions, mausoleums), to the unexpected (taxidermy, cloning). The central lesson: there is no best practice when it comes to mourning your pet, except to care for them in death as you did in life, and find the space to participate in their end as fully as you can.

Punctuated by wry, bighearted accounts of Bartels's own pets and their deaths, Good Grief is a cathartic companion through loving and losing our animal family.

Language:EnglishPublisher:Mariner BooksISBN-13:9780063470750ISBN-10:63470756UPC:9780063470750Book Category:Pets, Biography & Autobiography, NatureBook Subcategory:Essays & Narratives, Memoirs, AnimalsSize:8.00 x 5.31 x 0.61 inchesWeight:0.6504Product ID:SC5NC78HPS
Bartels, E. B.: -

E.B. BARTELS is a nonfiction writer, a former Newtonville Books bookseller, and a GrubStreet instructor, with an MFA from Columbia. Her writing has been published in Catapult, The Rumpus, The Millions, and The Toast. She lives in Massachusetts.

Publisher: Mariner Books

Contributor(s)

E. B. Bartels

Free shipping on orders over $75. Standard shipping takes 3-7 business days. Returns accepted within 30 days of purchase.

Recently Viewed

View All