They Left Us Everything is a memoir by Canadian Plum Johnson about caring for her senior parents and the 16-month project of sorting and clearing their home. This contemporary story is set in her parents’ rambling 22-room house filled with decades of accumulation and memories. In sharp contrast to my recent blog posting, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, Johnson finds real value in waiting until after someone’s death to sort their stuff.

How many of us have faced the experience of setting out on an excavation to clear an older relative or friend’s home? Without knowing what we will discover, we can enter with resentment and weariness or anticipation and curiosity!

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