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The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County

A Novel

ebook
4 of 4 copies available
4 of 4 copies available

Armed with a Crock-Pot and a pile of recipes, a grandmother, her granddaughter, and a mysterious young man work to bring a community together in this uplifting novel for readers of The Chicken Sisters.

Esther Larson has been cooking for funerals in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for seventy years. Known locally as the "funeral ladies," she and her cohort have worked hard to keep the mourners of Ellerie County fed—it is her firm belief that there is very little a warm casserole and a piece of cherry pie can't fix. But, after falling for an internet scam that puts her home at risk, the proud Larson family matriarch is the one in need of help these days.

Iris, Esther's whip-smart Gen Z granddaughter, would do anything for her family and her community. As she watches her friends and family move out of their lakeside town onto bigger and better things, Iris wonders why she feels so left behind in the place she is desperate to make her home. But when Cooper Welsh shows up, she finally starts to feel like she's found the missing piece of her puzzle.

Cooper is dealing with becoming a legal guardian to his younger half-sister after his beloved stepmother dies. While their celebrity-chef father is focused on his booming career and top-ranked television show, Cooper is still hurting from a public tragedy he witnessed last year as a paramedic and finding it hard to cope. With Iris in the gorgeous Ellerie County, though, he hopes he might finally find the home he's been looking for.

It doesn't seem like a community cookbook could possibly solve their problems, especially one where casseroles have their own section and cream of chicken soup mix is the most frequently used ingredient. But when you mix the can-do spirit of Midwestern grandmothers with the stubborn hope of a boy raised by food plus a dash of long-awaited forgiveness—things might just turn out okay.

Includes Recipes


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    • Booklist

      February 1, 2024
      Esther Larson has been on the funeral committee for St. Anne's for decades. When someone passes away in Ellerie County, the committee brings food and lots of it. Pies, casseroles, sandwiches, pastas; they make it all and pass the leftovers on to the grieving families to ease their burden. Even when the funeral happens to be for the wife of celebrity chef Ivan Welsh, the committee makes the food just the same. Esther--who is in dire financial straits after an internet scam leaves her facing foreclosure--and her granddaughter Iris find themselves wound up in the lives of the Welsh family, who decide to stay in Ellerie for a while as they deal with their loss. Many of the plot points will feel ripped from the headlines, but Swinarski handles them with sensitivity and tact. Readers will root for the characters and get swept up in the small-town Wisconsin setting. This is a great pick for anyone who liked Saturday Night at the Late Night Supper Club (2023), by J. Ryan Stradal.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • Kindle Book
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  • EPUB ebook

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  • English

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