Making an Exit

Writer and journalist Sarah Murray never gave much thought of what might ultimately happen to her remains. That was until her father died. Puzzled by the choice he made for the disposal of his “organic matter,” she set off on a series of voyages to discover how death is celebrated and commemorated in different cultures. Her accounts of these journeys are engaging, poignant, and funny. But this is also a very personal quest – for on her travels, Murray is seeking inspiration for her own eventual send-off.

St Martin's Press, New York 2011
Coptic Publishing, London 2011
Picador, New York 2012

Buy This Book

“An Eat, Pray, Love for the afterlife … Murray tackles an uncomfortable subject with sensitivity, humor and great insight.” - The Washington Post

"A fascinating travelogue, but also a personal meditation on loss and fate." - The Economist

“Brilliant … I was transfixed by this oddly life-enhancing book.” - Daily Mail

“Murray handles her subject sensitively; Making an Exit is witty without being frivolous, moving without being mawkish.” - Financial Times

“Difficult to put down … with Murray at the helm, this journey in search of death is full of life.” - Publishers Weekly

About The Author

Sarah Murray is a journalist, author and book editor. Her first book, Moveable Feasts, looks at how the things we eat and drink have – from the first to the twenty-first centuries – crossed countries and continents before reaching our tables.

A former staffer and regular contributor for the Financial Times, she also writes for the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Economist Group and others, specialising in sustainable development, philanthropy and global health. Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Forbes, and The Economist. In 2014, she was awarded a Boehm Media Fellowship.

Sarah Murray, author of Making an Exit

More About This Book

Making An Exit is Sarah’s personal exploration of the extraordinary creativity unleashed when we seek to dignify the dead. Along the way, she encounters everything from a Balinese royal cremation and Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations to a Czech chandelier made from human bones, a weeping ceremony in Iran and a Philippine village where the casketed dead are left hanging in caves. She even goes to Africa to commission her own Ghanaian coffin.