Past Mortems

It is an understatement to say that Valentine is passionate about embracing death … Part memoir and part manifesto, Valentine’s book lifts the lid on daily life in the mortuary … [Valentine] bares her own soul … with visceral attention to physical and emotional detail – Wendy Moore Guardian a fascinating portrait … one seriously intriguing read Glamour There are sections of Valentine’s writing that fondly brought back my first post-mortem experience. Rather than listening to the pathologist’s monologue about coronary arteries, I was mesmerised by the painstaking focus of the APT … Valentine succeeds in presenting her trade as a caring one. – Kate Womersley Spectator

Carla Valentine works with the dead: she’s your average chick who just happens to know as much about corpses as she does cocktails. After studying forensics, Carla assisted pathologists with post-mortems for years, before eventually becoming the Technical Curator of the world’s most famous pathology museum. When it comes to death, she truly is a world-class expert.