How to find hope in a funeral home

When Mai Nguyen lost her daughter just days after she was born, writing about a similar character in a novel brought her comfort. Her new book, Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead , is a heartbreaking but humorous novel about a grieving mother who starts working at a funeral home. Cleo Dang’s world is shattered when she loses her newborn due to complications during labour. Drowning in grief and the discomfort of friends and family, she takes a job at a funeral home and comes to learn intimately about her own loss and what grief means for others. It’s a deeply personal story based on Mai’s own experiences, and despite the subject, she tells the story with levity and hope. This week, Mai tells Mattea Roach about her own grief journey, balancing sorrow and laughter and why she was wrong about funeral home employees. Liked this conversation? Keep listening: Sarah Leavitt: Illustrating grief too wide for words What is extreme caretaking? Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and TikTok @cbcbooks

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How to find hope in a funeral home is an episode from Writers and Company from CBC Radio by CBC.

This episode is 00:31:17 long.

This episode was published on May 3, 2026.

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