A compassionate man of honour is the way to describe Ephraim Finch after reading this intimate and moving biography.
Born Geoffrey Finch, he and his wife, Cas, converted to Judaism in their 20s and for 30 years he was the head of the Jewish burial society, Chevra Kadisha, in Melbourne. Ariel describes him as deeply religious; a voracious archivist and beloved community figure; an Orthodox Jew with a broad Aussie accent.
Now retired, Finch kept journals, chronicling his work with the dead and dying, and their loved ones. In that time, he ritually washed, wrapped, prayed for and buried 10 000 individuals.
His journals show a preoccupation with Holocaust survivors, noting the original spelling of their Eastern European village birthplace, not just their parents’ names, but those of extended family, details of internments, tattoo numbers, immigration arrival dates and names of ships. He stressed to Ariel, in many interviews over some years, how important it is to ask questions, to let people speak and listen deeply.
One of the most moving chapters recounts a family visit in 2005 to Polish concentration camps. At first Ephraim Finch did not want to go, claiming his talks with Holocaust survivors and their families meant that he felt like blotting paper, having Poland sucked into him.
With care and affection, Ariel has pulled together the strands of his remarkable life as well as explaining Jewish rituals, particularly surrounding death.
Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville
Read an extract from Ferryman by Katia Ariel
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katia was born in the Black Sea town of Odesa, moving to Melbourne, Australia, at the age of 10. She holds an Arts/Law degree from Monash University and a Graduate Diploma of Publishing and Editing from RMIT. Katia was a managing editor with Five Islands Press from 2010 to 2019.
Over the past 15 years Katia has edited for various large publishers. In her work for private clients, Katia specialises in manuscript appraisal and structural editing, especially memoir, poetry and literary fiction.
Katia is also a poet and memoirist and was the recipient of the Eleanor Dark Residential Fellowship at Varuna in 2022 and the Bundanon Artists’ Residency in 2024. Her memoir, The Swift Dark Tide, was shortlisted for the Stella Prize in 2024. The Ferryman: The Life and Deathwork of Ephraim Finch was released in June 2025. She teaches in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne.
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