However, she also said it was a very good read though she won't be rushing back to dive into the covers again. It was Easthope that had to procure hundreds of cookie sheets to lay out the fragments of flesh and bone when the twin towers came down. The author has been present in many natural and manmade disasters around the world, and she shares something of the experience.

She also looks back at the many losses and loves of her life and career, and tells us how we can all build back after disaster. Whilst I am in the privileged position of living with my husband, dogs, and having a regular wage from a good job, lockdown terrified me.

On Page 50 Lucy says: “ As long as there were disasters, there would also be people heading out to help” (Easthope, 2022, p. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. She has dealt with almost every major disaster in the last 20 years, from 9/11 to the pandemic, and has even had first hand experience of some events, like the 7/7 bombings and the Alton Towers crash. g. Prof Sue Black's books and Dr Richard Shepherd's Unnatural Causes) that explore the medical, sociological and political fall out from notable deaths and disasters but this genre can be at risk of feeling exploitative or in poor taste to the victims and their families. I was given a copy of this book as part of Tandem Collective UK readalong, in which I gave honest opinions and a genuine review.

Easthope, who grew up in Liverpool, says it was witnessing the impact of the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 that set her on her career path, said Jasper Rees in The Daily Telegraph. With wisdom, resilience and candour, When the Dust Settles lifts us up by showing that humanity, hope and humour can - and must - be found on the darkest days. I found the chapter on Grenfell particularly hard and moving to read, especially as someone who works in social housing. Her assessment of the decisions made by the UK Government following on from an exercise that pre-dated the 2020 pandemic should make very uncomfortable reading for Ministers and senior Civil Servants. She has been involved in some of the world's most infamous disasters whether caused by malignant humans or mother nature!A much-used word, karma is loosely understood as a system of checks and balances in our lives, of good actions and bad deeds, of good thoughts and bad intentions.

In Baldwin’s spirit, the faithful knows that this moment of life is brief, and that death is as sure as the morning, and that what awaits us at the end of those words is that present and defiant joy that is heard in the words of Jesus: I have come that they may have life and life to the full. Not only has the experience “put [Easthope] off mushrooms for life”, but the particular cleaning fluid used in mortuaries “has a canny, fateful habit of turning up at the wrong moment”, such as in “the toilets of a concert venue on an anniversary night out”. Despite the topic this is a heartwarming and life affirming perspective and also has the reader considering how all traumatic events be they at home or in your workplace could be better handled. I appreciated Lucy Easthope's personal focus on recovering personal items and centering the recovery on the survivors being able to grieve and move on in the best way for them.Once you get past those grimmer, but very real parts of disaster recovery and management, there is so much warmth to be found, from the cups of tea handed to families and first responders, the memory boxes made, the coming together of communities. She went on to take an academic position and a job in risk management at Cambridge city council before setting up her own consultancy to advise businesses and government departments. Some of it quite practical some of it macabre and some of it confirmed my fears; There is only so much you can plan for.

Elsewhere, it is with a clear sense of distance that she reflects on the careful collection and storage of body parts, or how the smell of death “has put me off mushrooms for life”, or the fact that she feels “at home in a disaster mortuary”.A former FBI hostage negotiator offers a new, field-tested approach to negotiating - effective in any situation.