The Secret Life of a Cemetery The Wild Nature and Enchanting Lore of Père-Lachaise

About this book

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.

For Benoit 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 40 hectares of green space, overseeing 70,000 graves, and arranging burials and cremations, all while contending with millions of tourists – 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 and plant life have attracted followers from around the world, helping to change the public perception of cemeteries, which ultimately exist as places for the living.

A bestseller in France, lauded as 'a superb book ... full of humour, empathy, and great sweetness' by the French literary press, The Secret Life of a Cemetery is a life-affirming read that will stand the test of time.

Originally published in French in 2022 by Les Arènes as La Vie Secrète d'un Cimetière.

Contents

Translator's Note
Preface

16, Rue du Repos
Tombstone Tourism
Life at the Cemetery
The Flagship
The Funeral Bug
Fashion Victims
An Unusual Job
A Stroll Among the Graves
Bubbles of Hope
The Tissue Box
You Can't Outfox a Fox
Time to Celebrate
Living Among the Dead
Ghost Stories
Under the Parisian Sky
The Legend of Jim
No Dead-End Jobs Here
VIP Treatment
The Same World
Dying Is Really the Last Thing to Do
Glossary of Funerary Symbols

Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography

Customer Reviews

Biography

Benoit Gallot has been the curator of Pere Lachaise Cemetery since 2018 and was born into a family of grave stonemasons. His Instagram account has attracted a growing community of followers captivated by his photographs of the animals that have made the Parisian landmark their home. He lives on the grounds of the cemetery with his family.

Arielle Aaronson is a French-to-English translator of books, films, TV, and more. Her translations have been shortlisted for the 2023 Governor General's Literary Award and longlisted for the 2021 Canada Reads book of the year. She lives in Montreal, Quebec, with her family.