"What is all this fuss about death?" asks Julian Barnes' mother matter-of-factly. But her son often struggles to sleep because of it: "I explained to her that the thought of it repulses me." Thus, he tells the anecdote-rich story of the life and death of the very British and buttoned-up Barnes family. However, the author's true relatives are writers and composers like Stendhal, Flaubert, and Stravinsky. Brilliant, witty, and clever as always, Julian Barnes engages with a topic that affects everyone throughout their lives.