Imagine growing up in a house where joy and grief coexist under the same roof—a stately Victorian mansion where the upstairs hummed with the energy of two lively families, and the basement displayed caskets next to the closed door of an embalming room. Kevin O’Connor invites you into his extraordinary childhood, where the sounds of laughter mixed with the business of a funeral home.

Through a captivating collection of family letters spanning the 1920s to the ‘80s, O’Connor masterfully weaves a story that balances life's most poignant moments—births, celebrations, and yes, death—into a tapestry of resilience, love, and joy.