‘Household Guide to Dying’ funny, poignant

Imagine a snarky Dear Abby, a sarcastic Hints From Heloise, a caustic Miss Manners.

That’s Delia Bennet, author of a household guide series, a domestic advice columnist in her Australian hometown — and star of Debra Adelaide's "The Household Guide to Dying: A Novel About Life."

Delia offers her wisdom with a touch of sass, as when trying to help a male reader who has been pestering her about how his girlfriend is going to leave him over his filthy bathroom.

Dear Delia,
I guess I can see what you mean by those brown stains and the mold, but what should I use to clean the bathroom? I went to the supermarket but there was a whole shelf of products and I just got confused and went home again.
Desperate

Dear Desperate,
Here is the secret: you remain in the bathroom armed with some abrasive cleaner, a bottle of bleach and a packet of scouring pads. If you emerge in under an hour, you’ll know the job is not done. Try listening to George Formby tapes to help the time go by. That might remind you to clean the windows, as well. Remember that in his day, Formby was a bit of a superstar and if cleaning windows was good enough for him, it’s good enough for you. And don’t forget to ventilate the room. No good if your girlfriend arrives one evening to find a sparkling clean bathroom (an unlikely prospect, I know) but an asphyxiated you. Good luck. I shudder to consider the state of your kitchen.

After conceding defeat in her battle with breast cancer, Delia, a compulsive list-maker who’s a bit of a control freak, feels she must put her house in final order by coming to terms with her own past while preparing her husband and kids for her inevitable absence.

To cope with her own deterioration, Delia decides to be practical and write about her experience, creating what would be her final guidebook — one for dying.

Adelaide’s “The Household Guide to Dying” is both witty and poignant as Delia struggles to tie up the loose ends of her life and compile a lifetime of motherly advice for her children. While dealing with the present she ventures into her past to reconcile the worst loss of her life.

During her journey, Delia discovers that good can come from loss and that life does have a way of going on without us. Adelaide’s use of humor balances the grim subject matter, and she compassionately portrays the dire situation in this novel, which illustrates how a dose of laughter during the most challenging times can ease our journey on that path all of us will one day follow.