‘In the midst of death, we are in life’ might be the subtitle of this book about the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where wildlife shares a place of rest with its human occupants.
For many town-livers, the few green spaces, with their somewhat limited wild species, are important oases of peace. The author celebrates the Red Foxes, Stone (Beech) Martens, a host of birds, butterflies, lichens and mosses that share his workplace without disturbing its human residents (either living or dead).
It’s difficult to write about a cemetery, a busy one too, without quite a lot of death creeping onto the pages. The French do things differently, it seems in that many of the plots within the cemetery are rented on a short, medium or long term basis. So your loved one may be exhumed after five years, their remains sent to an ossuary and the plot gets a new occupant. We learn quite a bit about the ins and outs, quite literally, of running such a cemetery, and that makes interesting reading.
The wildlife observations are touching and they say much about the value of the vestiges of wildlife to those who live and work in big cities.
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would and I’m glad that I read it.
The cover? I think it’s quite clever and I’d give the cover 8/10.
The Secret Life of a Cemetery: the wild nature and enchanting lore of Père-Lachaise by Benoît Gallot is published by Greystone.
Buy this book direct from Blackwell’s – a proper bookshop (and I’ll get a little bit of money from them).
