Mrs Death Misses Death

Salena Godden

Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden (Paperback ISBN 9781838851224) book cover

Available as Paperback, Hardback, eBook, Downloadable audio

Mrs Death tells her intoxicating story in this life-affirming fire-starter of a novel

WINNER OF THE INDIE BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE

Mrs Death tells her intoxicating story in this life-affirming fire-starter of a novel

Mrs Death has had enough. She is exhausted by her job and now seeks someone to unburden her conscience to.

She meets Wolf, a troubled young writer, who – enthralled by her stories – begins to write Mrs Death’s memoirs. As the two reflect on the losses they have experienced (or facilitated), their friendship flourishes. All the while, despite her world-weariness, Death must continue to hold humans’ fates in her hands, appearing in our lives when we least expect her …


“A fantastically imaginative story about life, death and everything in between – a potent reminder that life is short and every second should be cherished”
Idris Elba

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“A modern-day Pilgrim’s Progress leavened with caustic wit … This is not light-hearted stuff, yet Godden has produced a miraculously light-hearted novel … an elegant, occasionally uproarious, danse macabre
guardian

“Exquisite. A daring, poetic offering that establishes Godden as one of our most exciting voices. I loved it”
Irenosen Okojie

“A rhythmic and powerful poetic meditation on death, life and love and the hidden mysteries of the universe; both playful and sombre, hilarious and human”
Nikesh Shukla

“In this timely and exquisite meditation on breath and its best rhyme, we see a stunning performance poet crowding all the energy, wisdom, passion and laughs of her live work into the solid ingot of this astounding novel, as profound as Cohen, as playful as Brautigan. Salena Goddess, more like”
Alan Moore


Salena Godden

Salena Godden FRSL is an award-winning author, poet and broadcaster of Jamaican-mixed heritage based in London. Her debut novel Mrs Death Misses Death won the Indie Book Award for Fiction and the People’s Book Prize, and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards and the Gordon Burn Prize. Film and TV rights for Mrs Death Misses Death have been optioned by Idris Elba’s production company Green Door Pictures. Godden has been shortlisted for the 4thWrite short story prize and the Ted Hughes Prize. Her work has been widely anthologised and broadcast on radio, TV and film. Her poem Pessimism Is for Lightweights is on permanent display at the People’s History Museum, Manchester. She was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

@salenagodden | salenagodden.co.uk


Salena Godden, author of Mrs Death Misses Death, reads an extract from Mrs Death’s story of The Red Tower at the Durham Book Festival.