The Secret Life of a Cemetery
The Wild Nature and Enchanting Lore of Pre-Lachaise
Benot Gallot author Arielle Aaronson translator Daniel Casanave illustrator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Greystone Books,Canada
Publishing:1st May '25
£16.99
This title is due to be published on 1st May, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
From the head curator of the most famous cemetery in the world—a moving story about a place where joy, grief, and wild nature converge in unexpected and inspiring ways.
“Père-Lachaise in Paris, whose tombs of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf and many other artistic icons have made it a popular tourist draw, has become a haven for wildlife.”—from the New York Times profile of author Benoît Gallot
For Benoît Gallot, Père Lachaise is best explored without a guide: You’re guaranteed to lose your way. You’ll feel as though you’ve stepped out of time, out of Paris, and into another place entirely. In his debut memoir, Gallot, head curator of Père Lachaise and son of a grave stonemason, pulls back the curtains on his otherworldly workplace—a cemetery crammed with tourists in the high season and mourners year round, but also a natural paradise, where foxes roam, birds flit between trees, and wildflowers and moss encroach onto tombstones.
In elegant, engrossing chapters, Gallot reveals the secret world of Père Lachaise—its Napoleonic origins, its unusual graves and monuments—alongside touching stories from his working life in the cemetery. Born into a family of undertakers, Gallot was named curator of Père-Lachaise in his early-thirties, inheriting the complex job of managing over 100 acres of green space, overseeing 70,000 graves, and arranging burials and cremations, all while contending with millions of tourist—plus film crews, birdwatchers, ghost hunters, and the occasional nude performance artist. Gallot, who also lives on the cemetery grounds with his wife and young children, demystifies his unusual and often misunderstood profession, which in reality requires much more contact with living people than dead ones. In doing so, he provides insight into the history of graveyards and our evolving relationship with death.
Gallot also shares vivid descriptions of flora and fauna, which have reemerged in recent years thanks to a huge rewilding effort. Initially unsure about the idea, he embraced it as the cemetery alleys blossomed and birdsong proliferated. Then in April 2020, with the city in lockdown, Gallot took an early-morning stroll and crossed paths with a fox—in the middle of Paris! He snapped a picture and posted it, unwittingly setting off a media frenzy. Gallot’s daily photographs of Père-Lachaise’s flourishing animal...
“This book is full of surprises about the world’s most famous resting place—from the fascinating and amusing histories Gallot reveals to the eloquent, page-turning prose. Each chapter took me on a new turn down Père-Lachaise’s famed cobblestone walkways. What a delight to read! The Secret Life of a Cemetery will now occupy a cherished spot on my bookshelf.”
—Greg Melville, author of Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America’s Cemeteries
“Paris’s famous cemetery is as full of life and history as the city itself.”
—Stephen Clarke, author of 1000 Years of Annoying the French
ISBN: 9781778401589
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
240 pages