After KATE MAYFIELD was born she was taken directly to a funeral home. Her father, an undertaker, set up shop in a small town in southern Kentucky where the family resided in his funeral home for thirteen years. This is the setting of her memoir, The Undertaker's Daughter.
Excerpt
“I have tried to remember the first time I saw a dead body. There have been many odd firsts in my life, like the first time I touched a dead person. I was too short to reach into the casket, so my father picked me up and I leaned in for that first empty, cold touch. It was thrilling because it was an unthinkable act. But I recall no first viewing because from the time I entered the world, there were always dead bodies.”
“‘A dark and sharply detailed memoir...Introspective and rich with personal revelation.’”
““Her Southern Gothic-style description of the town of Jubilee in the 1960s, with its prim, elegant exterior masking a seething social dysfunction, reinforces the macabre mood.’”
“‘Mayfield fashions a poignant send-off to Jubilee in this thoughtfully rendered work.’”
“‘Set in a small town in Kentucky, for thirteen years she lives with death, literally on her doorstep, and the coming and going of mourners and grief alike. A very unusual tale told in a fascinating way.’”
“‘As well as being a window on to a small community, this Gothic memoir is also Kate’s bid to understand her charismatic but complicated father.’”