Derek Says: Walking a quiet tread between sorrow and humour, The Book of Grief and Hamburgers is emotionally bare, honest, humane. After Covid’s assertion in early 2020, there has been so much loss, so much unresolved grief – and so many ways of avoiding facing that trauma. With this volume, Ross sets aside much of his contemporary surrealism and meets our gaze with tears in his eyes. The hamburgers are a self-confessed feint, a greasy-spoon coping mechanism, but like the finest magician who implores you to not take your eyes off the desk of cards while he explains the trick, Ross still astonishes. There’s a space at the counter, sit, we’ve all bitten off more than we can chew.