The author portrays herself as dead and lying in her coffin. During the three days before the final consignment to dust and oblivion, as friends, relatives, ex-colleagues, fans, lovers and total strangers come to pay their respects, she indulges, for the last time, her love of story-telling. Around each visitor she weaves a dazzling tale with her usual exuberant wit, comic brio and warm empathy. But the tales are more than just that. They are the triggering points for what is the central concern of this book - the exploration of those achingly urgent human questions that everyone asks at some time or other in his or her life: Who are we? Where did we come from? What is the purpose of life? What happens after death? Why are we here at all? What is our conception of god in an age of undisputed scientific power? How should we view good and evil, pain and suffering? Is there such a thing as Ultimate Truth? What does it mean to be human?