SOLVED. Book of incredibly sad stories about death and funerals [s]

[Rachel]

A book I read around the late 1990s/early millennium and it was new at the time.

It was a book of short stories (but long short stories, if you see what I mean - about five of them made up the book). They were all centred around a funeral or the death of a loved one, usually a romantic partner. I remember it being very well written but unbelievably sad. I think one story was about a woman dealing with her boyfriend/husband's death by sleeping with a lot of strangers (she may have had sex in a graveyard?)

I think the cover had green grass on it and some kind of black blur or shadow, like an out of focus photo of something in a graveyard.

Not sure if I am emotionally tough enough to re-read it but would like to at least identify it!

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Was it an anthology (stories written by different writers) or a collection of stories by the same author? If the latter, was the author male or female? Was it someone well known or obscure?

[Rachel]

Hi lobstergirl. All of the stories were by the same author, who I think was female. I don't think it was a well-known author. I would probably be more likely to remember the details if it was by someone well-known.

Also may have had the word death or funeral in the title, but it's the green cover that really sticks in my mind.

[Rachel]

bump

[Rachel]

Bump

[Rachel]

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[Tab]

The Joy of Funerals: A Novel in Stories by Alix Strauss fits.

[Rachel]

Wow - I'm sure this is it. Thank you Tab! How did you find this?!

[Tab]

I used a really cool site called Novelist Plus. Our local library allows access to it with are library card number.