Many of us avoid talking of death or even thinking about it, and yet preparing for it is a necessity. All sorts of legal, financial and practical arrangements have to be made. This handbook invites us to consider the various options for arranging a funeral. It provides information about: coping with death: financial matters: legal matters: funeral directors: funeral services, including music, readings and prayers: memorials.

Giles Legood and Ian Markham also draw on their personal and professional experience of bereavement to consider attitudes to dying and the big questions that often attend death. A comprehensive guide, The Funeral Handbook is an invaluable aid to all those negotiating the practicalities of planning their own or someone else's funeral.