Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead: A Novel
"One day I will die, and one day everyone I know will die. One day every animal and plant on this planet will die."
Meet Gilda: a twenty-something whose life is dominated by death anxiety. When she stumbles into a job as a receptionist at a Catholic church, thinking she’s there for therapy, it triggers a chain of awkward, existential adventures. Suddenly responsible for a dead woman’s inbox, Gilda must juggle Catholic mass, an online correspondence with the departed receptionist’s friend, and keeping her sexuality hidden, all while barely holding herself together.
This debut novel balances dark humor and tender introspection to explore how mortality shapes the smallest corners of our lives. Its tone is morbid yet hopeful, serious yet sly. A book that reminds us death makes everything fragile, but also beautiful.
📗 In The Mood For…
Being Entertained
Wry, witty, and unflinchingly funny.
✅ Narrated with dry humor and honest self-deprecation
✅ Balances quirky comedy with emotional depth
Feeling Grounded
An intimate portrait of a woman trying to navigate daily life, dishes, mass, anxiety, on the brink.
✅ Rooted in the mundanity of existence, even as it grapples with death
✅ Finds compassion and connection in the ordinary
📘 Stories About…
Connection & Solitude
It’s quieter than a thriller, but louder in its reckoning with loneliness.
✅ Explores how Gilda struggles to belong: to family, faith, church, relationships
✅ Focuses on the ways we seek connection even when we’re terrified of dying
Life & Death
Death is ever-present here, not just as concept, but as lived experience.
✅ Confronts mortality through rituals, panic, and daily acts of meaning
✅ Asks readers to stay alive alongside someone who won’t look away from the void