When the Dust Settles

Lucy Easthope lives with disaster every day. When a plane crashes, a bomb explodes, a city floods or a pandemic begins, she's the one they call. In every catastrophe, Lucy is there to pick up the pieces and prepare for the next one. Her job is to plan for when things go wrong and respond with action and insight when it does. As one of the world's leading experts on disaster she has been at the centre of the most seismic events of the last few decades - advising on everything from the 2004 Tsunami to the 7/7 bombings, the Salisbury poisonings, the Grenfell fire and the Covid-19 pandemic. In her moving memoir she reveals what happens in the aftermath. She takes us behind the police tape to scenes of destruction and chaos, introducing us to victims and their families, but also to the government briefing rooms and bunkers, where confusion and stale biscuits can reign supreme. With wisdom, resilience and candour When the Dust Settles looks back at a life spent on the edges of disaster - from a Liverpudlian childhood steeped in the Hillsborough tragedy to the many losses and loves of her career. Crucially, Lucy shows us that where there is terrible tragedy there is also great hope and that humanity and humour can still be found on the darkest days. von Easthope, Lucy