Paperback
Famous corpses lead bizarre afterlives in history’s strangest tales.

Rest in Pieces

The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses

$26.70

  • Paperback

    384 pages

  • Release Date

    28 October 2021

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Summary

In the long run, we’re all dead. But for some of the most influential figures in history, death marked the start of a new adventure. The famous deceased have been stolen, burned, sold, pickled, frozen, stuffed, impersonated, and even filed away in a lawyer’s office. Their fingers, teeth, toes, arms, legs, skulls, hearts, lungs, and nether regions have embarked on voyages that criss-cross the globe and stretch the imagination.

Counterfeiters tried to steal Lincoln’s corpse. Einstein’s …

Book Details

ISBN-13:9780715654132
ISBN-10:0715654136
Author:Bess Lovejoy
Publisher:Duckworth Books
Imprint:Duckworth
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:384
Release Date:28 October 2021
Weight:232g
Dimensions:129mm x 198mm
A-Format
B-Format
Rest in Pieces by Bess Lovejoy - ISBN: 9780715654132
129 × 198 mm
C-Format
A4
mm / in
What They're Saying

Critics Review

‘A historically beguiling, stranger-than-fiction compendium’ Elle


‘Deliciously morbid and delightfully macabre… required reading for those of us who intend, one day, to die’ Ben Schott, author of Schott’s Original Miscellany


‘If really, we’re all sitting in the undertaker’s waiting room, then Rest in Pieces is the perfect easy read, preparation for the moment when the nurse steps out of the shadows and quietly calls your name’ Simon Winchester, bestselling author of Skulls and The Professor and the Madman


‘There is something here to dismay everyone’ Times Literary Supplement


‘A tasty, sharp, wonderfully unusual book. I enjoyed it like a jar of perfect dill pickles: when the mood strikes, nothing else will satisfy’ Mary Roach, author of Gulp and Stiff


‘The world is awash with legendary body parts, from Einstein’s brain to Napoleon’s most intimate organ, and this wildly entertaining account proves that the fate of the grisly relics tells us a huge amount about history - and ourselves’ Tony Perrottet, author of Napoleon’s Privates


‘Marvelously macabre… A fascinating foray into the way of all flesh’ Kirkus Reviews

About The Author

Bess Lovejoy

Bess Lovejoy’s work has appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Lapham’s Quarterly and elsewhere. She is a former editor at Mental Floss, SmithsonianMag.com. She has delivered talks at Death Salon, Morbid Anatomy, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Green-Wood Cemetery, and for Atlas Obscura. She is also a founding member of The Order of the Good Death. She now works as a freelance writer, researcher, and content creator specializing in the places where history, science, and curiosity meet.

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