The Irish do death differently.Funeral attendance is a solemn duty - but it can also be a big
day out requiring sophisticated crowd control creative parking solutions and a high-end sound
system. Despite having the same basic end-of-life infrastructure as other Western countries
Irish culture handles death with a unique blend of dignified ritual and warm sociability.In
Sorry for Your Trouble Ann Marie Hourihane holds up a mirror to the Irish way of death: the
funny bits the sad bits and the hard-to-explain bits that tell us so much about who we are.
She follows the last weeks of a woman's life in hospice she witnesses an embalming she
attends inquests she talks to people working to prevent suicide she follows the team of
specialists working to locate the remains of people 'disappeared' by the IRA and she visits
some of Ireland's most contested graves. She also explores the strange and sometimes surprising
histories of Irish death practices from the traditional wake and ritual lamentations to the
busy commerce between anatomists and bodysnatchers. And she goes to funerals of ordinary and
extraordinary people all over the country - including that of her own father. 'I had joined a
club ' she writes 'the club of people who have lost someone very close to them.' And then
with her family she sets about planning a funeral in the middle of a pandemic.Sorry for Your
Trouble sheds fresh wise and witty light on a key pillar of Irish culture: a vast but
strangely underexplored subject. Rich sparkling and eye-opening it is one of the best books
ever written about Irish life.___________________________'A beautiful insightful reflection on
a very very peculiar country's approach to the oddest experience of them all' RYAN
TUBRIDY'Hugely moving and illuminating. All of life somehow is here' TANYA SWEENEY IRISH
INDEPENDENT'Moving comforting and funny' BUSINESS POST
