Nine Years Under: Coming of Age in an Inner City Funeral Home

First-time author Booker guides readers through the inner workings of a funeral home in an African American neighborhood in Baltimore—the Albert P. Wylie Funeral Home, where she was employed for nine years, beginning when she was only 15. Initially accepting the job as a teenager, Booker first establishes for herself a professional dress code and phone manner, then gradually learns important details of the funeral business like why her employer only used black ink pens, and finally overcoming her fear of “the basement,” where she assists her boss in the embalming room. Details specific to African-American funerary preparations, including styling black women’s hair, give the reader an intimate understanding of the importance of funeral homes in the African-American community. Adding another layer to the narrative is Booker’s own struggle coming to terms with the cancer diagnoses of both her mother and her Aunt Mary. Booker’s coming-of-age story set against the business of death is filled with both tragedy and humor, and is wholly compelling in its humanity. Agent: Betsey Lerner, Dunow, Carson & Lerner. (June)