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Bury Me Already (It’s Nice Down Here)

Comics on Pregnancy and Parenthood

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Contributors

By Julia Wertz

Formats and Prices

On Sale
Apr 14, 2026
Page Count
304 pages
Publisher
Black Dog & Leventhal
ISBN-13
9780762468287

Price

$32.00

Price

$42.00 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. Hardcover $32.00 $42.00 CAD
  2. ebook $15.99 $20.99 CAD

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Raw, honest, and hilarious, Bury Me Already (It’s Nice Down Here) chronicles the joy and horror of becoming a mother during challenging times.

In this follow-up to the acclaimed memoir Impossible People—a book about getting sober and becoming a professional artist in New York City—cartoonist Julia Wertz returns home to Northern California where she reunites with her family and rekindles a relationship with an ex-boyfriend. After a surprise pregnancy and a marriage proposal, Julia settles (somewhat reluctantly) into a quiet life in a small town. But as 2020 approaches, her world, and the world at large, takes a sharp turn toward unexpected chaos. Through comic vignettes, essays, and diary doodles, Julia recounts the events of her pregnancy and its attendant body horror, a miscarriage, family trauma, marriage, a life-altering accident, and the joy and surprises of parenthood as it all unfolds against the backdrop of local wildfires and a global pandemic. The result of this unconventional collection is a heart-wrenching and hilarious story of adversity, resilience, and, ultimately, love.

  • "Reading Julia's book, I found profound recognition and empathy for the young parent I once was. Bury Me Already is honest, funny, sad, and full of love, love most of all, in all its most complex routes that run from one person to another. Julia has been drawing her own life for decades now. Her generosity is second to none, both with her own life to the reader and to those whose lives appear in the pages. Her storytelling impulses are well honed, her voice is as distinct as ever, and she has never been better than this."
    Kate Beaton, author of Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
  • "I cackled and teared up throughout Julia Wertz's intimate, moving memoir about the preciousness of life and love, told through the journey of motherhood and the near loss of a beloved family member. I'd line up to read any book she writes, but I'm so grateful she gave us this one."
    Priyanka Mattoo, author of Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones

Julia Wertz

About the Author

Julia Wertz is a professional cartoonist, amateur historian, and part-time urban explorer. Her books include The Fart Party, Museum of Mistakes, Drinking at the Movies, The Infinite Wait and Other Stories, Tenements, Towers, & Trash: An Unconventional, Illustrated History of New York City and Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story. She does monthly comics and doodles for the New Yorker and the New York Times. After leaving New York City, she settled down in Northern California with Oliver (yes, that Oliver) and their son, Felix.

Learn more about this author