When the Dust Settles
The gripping behind-the-scenes memoir from the UK's top disaster planner - A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
Published on 31. March 2022
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-5293-5824-7 (ISBN)
Description
*The new book from Lucy Easthope: Come What May: Life-Changing Lessons for Coping with Crisis is coming May 2025 - available to pre-order now!*
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
A TELEGRAPH AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR
"Gripping... filled with compassion." Sunday Times
"An antidote to despair" Daily Mirror
"Enthralling" Observer
"Exemplary" New Statesman
When a plane crashes, a bomb explodes, a city floods or a pandemic begins, Lucy Easthope's phone starts to ring.
Lucy is a world-leading authority on recovering from disaster. She holds governments to account, supports survivors and helps communities to rebuild. She has been at the centre of the most seismic events of the last few decades, advising on everything from the 2004 tsunami and the 7/7 bombings to the Grenfell fire and the war in Ukraine. Lucy's job is to pick up the pieces and get us ready for what comes next.
Lucy takes us behind the police tape to scenes of chaos, and into government briefing rooms where confusion can reign. She also looks back at the many losses and loves of her life and career, and tells us how we can all build back after disaster.
When the Dust Settles lifts us up, showing that humanity, hope and humour can - and must - be found on the darkest days.
"Remarkable... hopeful and uplifting." Mail on Sunday
"A marvellous book" Rev Richard Coles
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
A TELEGRAPH AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR
"Gripping... filled with compassion." Sunday Times
"An antidote to despair" Daily Mirror
"Enthralling" Observer
"Exemplary" New Statesman
When a plane crashes, a bomb explodes, a city floods or a pandemic begins, Lucy Easthope's phone starts to ring.
Lucy is a world-leading authority on recovering from disaster. She holds governments to account, supports survivors and helps communities to rebuild. She has been at the centre of the most seismic events of the last few decades, advising on everything from the 2004 tsunami and the 7/7 bombings to the Grenfell fire and the war in Ukraine. Lucy's job is to pick up the pieces and get us ready for what comes next.
Lucy takes us behind the police tape to scenes of chaos, and into government briefing rooms where confusion can reign. She also looks back at the many losses and loves of her life and career, and tells us how we can all build back after disaster.
When the Dust Settles lifts us up, showing that humanity, hope and humour can - and must - be found on the darkest days.
"Remarkable... hopeful and uplifting." Mail on Sunday
"A marvellous book" Rev Richard Coles
Reviews / Votes
Never less than reassuringly humane... She shows and tells and, vitally, cares. * Telegraph * An unlikely superhero... this gripping memoir is full of compassion. A remarkable insight into the decisions involved in disaster planning. * Sunday Times * Easthope, whether she knows it or not, is that rare thing, a genuine philosopher thinking through what she is actually doing in the mitigation of human suffering. * New Statesman * The disasters recalled here often read like short stories, each of them filled with high drama, surreal twists and mysteries to be solved. * Guardian * 'A remarkable account...This should be a dark and depressing read; that it isn't, that it is ultimately hopeful and uplifting, is down to the utter human decency that the author represents' * Mail on Sunday * An essential, uplifting read, brimming with humanity, humility and humour. * Sue Black * An entirely unique vision of the human experience * Irish Times * Candid, unsettling and darkly funny * Sunday Post * Poignant, funny, analytical and profoundly humane * Perspective Magazine * Dauntless and forthright * TLS * Deeply humane, occasionally unsettling, and strangely uplifting * Irish Business Post * A book of horror and hope, written with rare humanity. * John Sutherland * When the Dust Settles taught me is that all experiences are of value... Easthope shows us how perfection and imperfection are woven together. Everything is flawed. Yet there is also hope despite the flaws. * Rachel Kelly * Her sensitive and profoundly moral book explores how human beings can preserve their resilience and live with loss. * New Statesman * Rewrites your perceptions of the disasters and wars of our lifetime with vivid details and vignettes... laced with humanity and decency. A literary memento which honours the messy truth of life.' * The Critic * An inspiring memoir. Easthope advises, supports and helps to rebuild lives. * Yorkshire Post * A riveting no-nonsense memoir that pulls back the curtains on your worst fears and shows you that someone, somewhere, will always truly care. * Jenny Colgan * Outstanding... a graphic but deeply humane account of what drew her to take on such work, and how she steels herself to tackle the worst of human scenarios. * The Bookseller * Never less than reassuringly humane... She shows and tells and, vitally, cares. * Telegraph * An unlikely superhero... this gripping memoir is full of compassion. A remarkable insight into the decisions involved in disaster planning. * Sunday Times * Easthope, whether she knows it or not, is that rare thing, a genuine philosopher thinking through what she is actually doing in the mitigation of human suffering. * New Statesman * The disasters recalled here often read like short stories, each of them filled with high drama, surreal twists and mysteries to be solved. * Guardian * 'A remarkable account...This should be a dark and depressing read; that it isn't, that it is ultimately hopeful and uplifting, is down to the utter human decency that the author represents' * Mail on Sunday * An essential, uplifting read, brimming with humanity, humility and humour. * Sue Black * An entirely unique vision of the human experience * Irish Times * Candid, unsettling and darkly funny * Sunday Post * Poignant, funny, analytical and profoundly humane * Perspective Magazine * Dauntless and forthright * TLS * Deeply humane, occasionally unsettling, and strangely uplifting * Irish Business Post * A book of horror and hope, written with rare humanity. * John Sutherland * When the Dust Settles taught me is that all experiences are of value... Easthope shows us how perfection and imperfection are woven together. Everything is flawed. Yet there is also hope despite the flaws. * Rachel Kelly * Her sensitive and profoundly moral book explores how human beings can preserve their resilience and live with loss. * New Statesman * Rewrites your perceptions of the disasters and wars of our lifetime with vivid details and vignettes... laced with humanity and decency. A literary memento which honours the messy truth of life.' * The Critic * An inspiring memoir. Easthope advises, supports and helps to rebuild lives. * Yorkshire Post * A riveting no-nonsense memoir that pulls back the curtains on your worst fears and shows you that someone, somewhere, will always truly care. * Jenny Colgan * Outstanding... a deeply humane account of what drew her to take on such work, and how she steels herself to tackle the worst of human scenarios. * The Bookseller *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
510 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5293-5824-7 (9781529358247)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Lucy Easthope is the UK's leading authority on recovering from disaster. She has been an advisor for nearly every major disaster of the past two decades, including the 2004 tsunami, 9/11, the Salisbury poisonings, Grenfell, the Covid-19 pandemic and most recently the war in Ukraine. She challenges others to think differently about what comes next after tragic events, and how to plan for future ones. Lucy grew up in Liverpool and has a degree in law, a PhD in medicine and a Masters in risk, crisis and disaster management. She is a Professor in Practice of Risk and Hazard at the University of Durham, a Fellow in Mass Fatalities and Pandemics at the University of Bath and a Research Associate at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research, Massey University, New Zealand.