Molly Conisbee's 'No Ordinary Deaths' Examines Mortality's Social History

Social historian and bereavement counsellor Molly Conisbee's book 'No Ordinary Deaths: A People's History of Mortality' (Profile Books, £22 hardcover) argues that how ordinary people die is culturally and historically contingent. Through 11 chapters, she traces death rituals from mourning practices to notions of the afterlife, focusing on Britain over the last two centuries. Conisbee draws on church records, censuses, and business listings to reconstruct speculative biographies of nurses, church members, petty criminals, funeral entrepreneurs, and proto death doulas. She contends that 'ordinary' deaths—often overshadowed by those of the wealthy and powerful—shape politics, beliefs, rituals, culture, and landscapes. The book details how during the 18th century most deaths occurred at home with a professional 'watcher,' a role gradually replaced by medical practitioners. The Industrial Revolution spurred mourning paraphernalia like cards, tea sets, biscuits, and ready-made wear, sold by professional providers. Pubs organized burial clubs as rudimentary insurance against the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. Conisbee explores whether a 'good' death exists, whether society owes debts to the dying, and whether grief should be public or private. The review notes the book's ambition to be both moral guide and informative history sometimes falls short, leaving open the question of how to write about ordinary death with specificity.