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The Restorative Artist
Not yet published
Expected 17 Sep 26An embalmer haunted by the death of his lover pulls apart his relationship and his funeral home to escape the pain of grief. Queer literary fiction meets gothic horror in this debut novel from a former funeral professional.
Graham has built his life around the dead. He's a talented embalmer, the devoted director of his own funeral home, and the guiding hand behind a small but respected team. After a corpse-carried illness forces him to reckon with his own mortality, Graham struggles to confront the lingering pain of a recent loss. Grief, he finds, is not so easily diagnosed, dissected, and named. It is not so easily cured.
Betrayed by his body and unable to accept the pain death has caused him, Graham loses faith in his profession and the person he's become in its service. The past – which he imagines as a story of love and self-acceptance – becomes Graham's refuge. But in the present, influenced by increasingly gruesome visions of the deceased, Graham withdraws from his funeral home with devastating consequences for himself, his new girlfriend, and his colleagues. As his life, and even his sanity, starts to fragment, Graham struggles to rediscover the importance of his work and the history that haunts him before he loses everything and everyone close to him.
The Restorative Artist is a dissection of memory and embodiment, set against the morbid decadence—and sterilising secrecy—of the US funeral industry. Through Graham's confrontations with the spectre of his deceased lover, the horror of his work, and his uneasy relationship with his own transgender body, it dares to ask how anyone can continue in the face of loss.
Graham has built his life around the dead. He's a talented embalmer, the devoted director of his own funeral home, and the guiding hand behind a small but respected team. After a corpse-carried illness forces him to reckon with his own mortality, Graham struggles to confront the lingering pain of a recent loss. Grief, he finds, is not so easily diagnosed, dissected, and named. It is not so easily cured.
Betrayed by his body and unable to accept the pain death has caused him, Graham loses faith in his profession and the person he's become in its service. The past – which he imagines as a story of love and self-acceptance – becomes Graham's refuge. But in the present, influenced by increasingly gruesome visions of the deceased, Graham withdraws from his funeral home with devastating consequences for himself, his new girlfriend, and his colleagues. As his life, and even his sanity, starts to fragment, Graham struggles to rediscover the importance of his work and the history that haunts him before he loses everything and everyone close to him.
The Restorative Artist is a dissection of memory and embodiment, set against the morbid decadence—and sterilising secrecy—of the US funeral industry. Through Graham's confrontations with the spectre of his deceased lover, the horror of his work, and his uneasy relationship with his own transgender body, it dares to ask how anyone can continue in the face of loss.
329 pages, Paperback
Expected publication September 17, 2026
About the author
Cecil Fenn
2 books1 followerCecil Fenn is a writer, designer, and former funeral professional. Originally from New York, he apprenticed in embalming before moving across the Atlantic and retraining in theatre technology. Now, he lives in the UK with two cats and a small vinyl collection, but his work still centres grief and the body.
Cecil’s short fiction has appeared in Scrawl Place, Canthius, and The Dread Machine, among others, and has been shortlisted for the WEM Aurora Prize. In 2019, he was a writer-in-residence at Islington Pride and the ruckus! archives. The Restorative Artist is his first novel.
Cecil’s short fiction has appeared in Scrawl Place, Canthius, and The Dread Machine, among others, and has been shortlisted for the WEM Aurora Prize. In 2019, he was a writer-in-residence at Islington Pride and the ruckus! archives. The Restorative Artist is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and Lucent Dreaming for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own and subjective.
3.5/5. While my rating might indicate a less than stellar reading experience, I'll say that I'm ultimately glad that I read this. This is a story about Graham, a trans man, struggling with his own grief and the emotions that come with it, how he feels as if he's not allowed to feel the way other cis men would, that his own identity combined with his personality not allowing him to allow himself to just be. It is something that resonates with me, also a trans man.
While I can appreciate the author's perspective, as well as writing a protagonist of with an occupation less seen (a mortician), this was unfortunately a drag for me. The majority of the book was spent focusing on Graham's struggle and downward spiral, and as much as I sympathize with his pain, it felt like it just went on and on and on about pretty much the same thing.
Graham got sick, things became bad, things happened and then better, and then something would trigger him to spiral again and it didn't let up until the very end, where his grief was resolved almost too quickly and neatly for me, even if the situation was anything but. I can understand that the point is that Graham thinks men like him only deserve the worst, and he was miserable partially because he kept himself there, but for me, I wished this was a hundred pages shorter.
I will say that I'm mostly to blame for this, the blurb led me to believe that this would have more horror than there exists in the book, and there really isn't much of that. The 'horror' moments were more mellow and tragic than they're visceral.
Also, formatting wise, sometimes two characters would talk within the same paragraph, and it took a bit of work to decipher who's saying which line.
Don't let me dissuade you from giving this a try. This is very much a slow burn, deep dive and character study, and I can see this being an easy 5 for someone else out there, possibly you!. That someone isn't going to me, though, at least not with my current interests and psyche.
3.5/5. While my rating might indicate a less than stellar reading experience, I'll say that I'm ultimately glad that I read this. This is a story about Graham, a trans man, struggling with his own grief and the emotions that come with it, how he feels as if he's not allowed to feel the way other cis men would, that his own identity combined with his personality not allowing him to allow himself to just be. It is something that resonates with me, also a trans man.
While I can appreciate the author's perspective, as well as writing a protagonist of with an occupation less seen (a mortician), this was unfortunately a drag for me. The majority of the book was spent focusing on Graham's struggle and downward spiral, and as much as I sympathize with his pain, it felt like it just went on and on and on about pretty much the same thing.
Graham got sick, things became bad, things happened and then better, and then something would trigger him to spiral again and it didn't let up until the very end, where his grief was resolved almost too quickly and neatly for me, even if the situation was anything but. I can understand that the point is that Graham thinks men like him only deserve the worst, and he was miserable partially because he kept himself there, but for me, I wished this was a hundred pages shorter.
I will say that I'm mostly to blame for this, the blurb led me to believe that this would have more horror than there exists in the book, and there really isn't much of that. The 'horror' moments were more mellow and tragic than they're visceral.
Also, formatting wise, sometimes two characters would talk within the same paragraph, and it took a bit of work to decipher who's saying which line.
Don't let me dissuade you from giving this a try. This is very much a slow burn, deep dive and character study, and I can see this being an easy 5 for someone else out there, possibly you!. That someone isn't going to me, though, at least not with my current interests and psyche.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is one of those books that leaves you haunted yet hopeful.
In The Restorative Artist, we follow Graham, a trans funeral director and embalmer, who is navigating his life after the loss of his boyfriend.
The story begins with an incredibly ill Graham who never stops coughing. Eventually ending up hospitalized with a life-changing diagnosis, Graham has an identity crisis.
At the same time, he is trying to get a footing in his new relationship with a woman named Ava who came out of nowhere in an unexpected, yet very needed way.
The illness, unprocessed grief from the loss of his boyfriend, relationship problems with Ava, and inability to perform at his job has left Graham completely despondent.
Then Graham starts seeing the specter of his loved one. As his sanity slips away from him, he feels more terrified than ever and watches the life we worked so hard for slip through his hands like sand.
This book hits really hard on unprocessed grief and its impacts on identity and the ability to form meaningful relationships. I let this sit with me for a minute and really grew to appreciate how the author wrote about Graham’s grief. While disturbing, haunting, and at times frustrating, are all of those emotions not what grief is capable of?
Illness and identity are explored on a continuum as relationships are tested romantically and professionally. The author describes Graham’s illness in the terrifying, yet modern tone it deserves while describing the up/down emotions that come with such a diagnosis.
The funeral business has always intrigued me ever since the movie My Girl. I even wanted to be a mortician and have my own house/mortuary combo. This book gave a nice birds-eye view into what that world might look like.
In The Restorative Artist, we follow Graham, a trans funeral director and embalmer, who is navigating his life after the loss of his boyfriend.
The story begins with an incredibly ill Graham who never stops coughing. Eventually ending up hospitalized with a life-changing diagnosis, Graham has an identity crisis.
At the same time, he is trying to get a footing in his new relationship with a woman named Ava who came out of nowhere in an unexpected, yet very needed way.
The illness, unprocessed grief from the loss of his boyfriend, relationship problems with Ava, and inability to perform at his job has left Graham completely despondent.
Then Graham starts seeing the specter of his loved one. As his sanity slips away from him, he feels more terrified than ever and watches the life we worked so hard for slip through his hands like sand.
This book hits really hard on unprocessed grief and its impacts on identity and the ability to form meaningful relationships. I let this sit with me for a minute and really grew to appreciate how the author wrote about Graham’s grief. While disturbing, haunting, and at times frustrating, are all of those emotions not what grief is capable of?
Illness and identity are explored on a continuum as relationships are tested romantically and professionally. The author describes Graham’s illness in the terrifying, yet modern tone it deserves while describing the up/down emotions that come with such a diagnosis.
The funeral business has always intrigued me ever since the movie My Girl. I even wanted to be a mortician and have my own house/mortuary combo. This book gave a nice birds-eye view into what that world might look like.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
It took me a while to collect my thoughts and write this review. I had to really sit with the story for a multitude of reasons.
The story is about Graham, an embalmer, who catches a contagious bacterial infection and suddenly his whole life crashes down on him. As it was advertised as a horror book, I expected there to be ghosts. However, the element of horror was brief but that doesn’t change the fact that he was haunted. Graham was haunted by grief.
I love Graham so much. I love Ava so much. I loved all the characters in the book actually and I had so much empathy and compassion for each one of them. The book deals with very dark themes, which is to be expected as Graham is an embalmer. He also deals with depression, shame, and grief revolving his transness.
I honestly don’t know where to begin praising this book. I loved Graham and Ava’s relationship so much. I like how forgiving and resilient it was. Towards the end of the book, when Graham hits a very low point, I couldn’t help but relate to his thought process. In my opinion, the themes of grief, death, memory, and mortality were all dealt with in a very good manner. Loved this book from start to finish. I cried. Have I said I love Graham? I love Graham. A new favourite book. 3
I definitely recommend this, but it deals with very dark and tense themes so I advise caution!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Lucent Dreaming for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The story is about Graham, an embalmer, who catches a contagious bacterial infection and suddenly his whole life crashes down on him. As it was advertised as a horror book, I expected there to be ghosts. However, the element of horror was brief but that doesn’t change the fact that he was haunted. Graham was haunted by grief.
I love Graham so much. I love Ava so much. I loved all the characters in the book actually and I had so much empathy and compassion for each one of them. The book deals with very dark themes, which is to be expected as Graham is an embalmer. He also deals with depression, shame, and grief revolving his transness.
I honestly don’t know where to begin praising this book. I loved Graham and Ava’s relationship so much. I like how forgiving and resilient it was. Towards the end of the book, when Graham hits a very low point, I couldn’t help but relate to his thought process. In my opinion, the themes of grief, death, memory, and mortality were all dealt with in a very good manner. Loved this book from start to finish. I cried. Have I said I love Graham? I love Graham. A new favourite book. 3
I definitely recommend this, but it deals with very dark and tense themes so I advise caution!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Lucent Dreaming for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received this book as an ARC on Netgalley, however all opinions are my own.
So the reason I wanted to read this is genuinely because I saw it on Netgalley and the description sounded like it'd be something right up my street. Friends, I was right. This story was so incredibly beautiful, jarring, and heartbreaking. This is described as both a "literary fiction" and a "horror" on Goodreads, but this for sure falls more into the literary fiction catergory, as the horror elements of this story felt more sad than horrifying. Which also means we've finally found a literary fiction I like! This book truly was filled with a heartbreak that I don't think I was ready for. The way that this character dealt with their queerness, them being trans and their grief was both beautiful and devestating at the same time. I genuinely found myself tearing up throughout this book and just wanting to jump into the story and give our main character a hug. I would absolutely recommend this if you want something that's going to tear your heart out and put it back together again, but please note there are some triggering topics throughout so please look up the trigger warnings before you read this book.
So the reason I wanted to read this is genuinely because I saw it on Netgalley and the description sounded like it'd be something right up my street. Friends, I was right. This story was so incredibly beautiful, jarring, and heartbreaking. This is described as both a "literary fiction" and a "horror" on Goodreads, but this for sure falls more into the literary fiction catergory, as the horror elements of this story felt more sad than horrifying. Which also means we've finally found a literary fiction I like! This book truly was filled with a heartbreak that I don't think I was ready for. The way that this character dealt with their queerness, them being trans and their grief was both beautiful and devestating at the same time. I genuinely found myself tearing up throughout this book and just wanting to jump into the story and give our main character a hug. I would absolutely recommend this if you want something that's going to tear your heart out and put it back together again, but please note there are some triggering topics throughout so please look up the trigger warnings before you read this book.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A well-thought-out story of working with the deceased and confronting your own mortality in that industry. This book makes you feel for the MC, Graham, in many ways through his own insecurity about being transgender, his grief over his past lover, and his sickness. Grief affects people differently, and for Graham, it caused him to neglect his physical and mental health. I have personal experience with that type of neglect; it takes alot of time to recover. Alot things can also affect it, like the people you have around you. I did like the relationship of Ava and Graham; it felt realistic, on their careers and the time they spend together. It shows the realities of being with someone when they are going through illness and grief. This book also makes you think of the funeral industry and how people view that career choice. The writing in this book was well written and poetic. This book's tone is melancholy but shows light from acceptance of oneself.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Lucent Dreaming, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Lucent Dreaming, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This isn't an easy book, emotionally, but I couldn't stop reading or thinking about it. The characters are so well written, so three-dimensional. The setting is so clear, and unusual for the reader but natural for the POV character, and when the POV perspective starts to warp through illness it twists everything with it. The queerness was bedrock to the story, not an afterthought or scaffolding; there would be no story without it, but it isn't THE story. It's in everything. At its core, it's about healing - unevenly, with great difficulty, against your will maybe, both physically and emotionally. And love, of course. There's no loss without it.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Queer gothic horror litfic about a grieving embalmer, with trans rep! Very excited to read this author's debut, he has experience as a funeral professional.. Thank you for the ARC!!
The MMC, Graham, is an embalmer and a trans man fighting his own body.. cant have a gothic without a frail and sickly man with consumption and catholic guilt haunted by the ghosts of his past..!!
beautifully gothic writing full of rot and decay... i love clinical terms paired with a gothic appreciation...
a meditative slice into Graham's life and love and loss.. this slow gothic musing explores grief and interpersonal struggles to an intimately tender and absolutely devastating extent...
the sequence between graham and jackie was beautiful... ava is such a dear and daniel sweet...
the end is a bittersweet end that brings closure...
if you want a book that makes you cry.... wipe your tears with these pages....!!!!!!
⚰️ hauntingly beautiful gothic prose
🖤 grief and love
🪦 appreciation for art
💀 queer bodies
♥️ how do you capture life in the face of death?
The MMC, Graham, is an embalmer and a trans man fighting his own body.. cant have a gothic without a frail and sickly man with consumption and catholic guilt haunted by the ghosts of his past..!!
beautifully gothic writing full of rot and decay... i love clinical terms paired with a gothic appreciation...
a meditative slice into Graham's life and love and loss.. this slow gothic musing explores grief and interpersonal struggles to an intimately tender and absolutely devastating extent...
the sequence between graham and jackie was beautiful... ava is such a dear and daniel sweet...
the end is a bittersweet end that brings closure...
if you want a book that makes you cry.... wipe your tears with these pages....!!!!!!
⚰️ hauntingly beautiful gothic prose
🖤 grief and love
🪦 appreciation for art
💀 queer bodies
♥️ how do you capture life in the face of death?
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
*thank you to net galley and the publisher for this arc*
While I was expecting more of a ghost story, this book ultimately ended up being about a much more literal haunting of grief. It was beautiful and heartbreaking, and even though death is waiting on every page you’ll be hard pressed to find a better example of the importance of staying alive
Perfect for fans of Andrew Joseph White, CG Drews, and NBCs Hannibal
While I was expecting more of a ghost story, this book ultimately ended up being about a much more literal haunting of grief. It was beautiful and heartbreaking, and even though death is waiting on every page you’ll be hard pressed to find a better example of the importance of staying alive
Perfect for fans of Andrew Joseph White, CG Drews, and NBCs Hannibal
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Received as a NetGalley arc in exchange for an honest review
The Restorative Artist tells the story of queer mortuary artist, Graham, brought low by illness and grief. Graham's strained awareness of his transgender body is heightened as the physical toll of weakens him and threatens to break what control he has over his simple life. Cecil Fenn has created lyrical and haunting exploration of the living within the US funerary industry.
The Restorative Artist tells the story of queer mortuary artist, Graham, brought low by illness and grief. Graham's strained awareness of his transgender body is heightened as the physical toll of weakens him and threatens to break what control he has over his simple life. Cecil Fenn has created lyrical and haunting exploration of the living within the US funerary industry.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The Restorative Artist is beautifully written and handles grief, love, illness and mortality with a lot of emotional depth. I appreciated the characters and atmosphere, but the pacing was much slower than I personally prefer. I went in expecting a stronger horror element, while the story ultimately felt more like an emotional exploration of relationships and grief.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks ##NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
This was dark and deep and very emotional. This really hits you as you read and makes yiu think about many darker aspects of life and death. The writing was interesting and engaging and clearly a lot of love went into this. Recommend you read!
This was dark and deep and very emotional. This really hits you as you read and makes yiu think about many darker aspects of life and death. The writing was interesting and engaging and clearly a lot of love went into this. Recommend you read!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews