Charity defies online retail giant

The Natural Death Centre Charity has withdrawn the latest version of its Natural Death Handbook from sale on Amazon, in order to try and raise as much money as possible to fund its work.

The charity refused to accept the 40 per cent of RRP rate offered to them for every copy sold on Amazon, choosing instead to sell the updated and fully revised three-book box set directly to the public from its own website.

“We have given ourselves a huge challenge!” said manager Rosie Inman Cook. “Not only do we have to do all of the marketing and promotion of the book ourselves, but we have had to physically carry all 6,000 books down the steps to our headquarters in a former nuclear bunker and stack them in piles in our main room.

“It’s not an easy task to get editors of newspapers and magazines to run a story on a book that is all about death – apparently there’s still a real worry that readers won’t want to see an article about the subject, despite it being so important that people have accurate and honest information about their choices.”

Despite this, the charity is determined that to make the fifth edition of the Natural Death Handbook find its way into homes across the UK.

Packed with practical help and advice, and offering a comprehensive and myth-busting guide to the taboo-shrouded world of funerals, the handbook provides people with all of the information needed to prepare for the death of a loved one – or indeed themselves.

Co-founder of the charity Josefine Speyer added: “It’s something that every home should have, just like a first aid book. I truly believe in lifting the taboo surrounding the subject of death, and this book does exactly that.”