The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County by Claire Swinarski is the first of her novels that I have read and I enjoyed it very much. The title appealed to me, a church lady myself, and I thought I would find kindred spirits among the characters. I’m not sure what it says about me that I did, amongst all of the eighty-year-old characters but that might be another whole post.
The story revolves around Esther Larson, who has been cooking for funerals at her parish in northern Wisconsin for about as long as anyone can remember. She firmly believes that comfort food is imperative to those who are mourning. On this, she and I agree.
This is a woman whose life revolves around her faith and family and perhaps due to a feeling of loss, her husband having passed away, she becomes embroiled in an internet scam that debilitates her finances to the point where she is likely to lose the home where she raised her family and at which their family life still revolves.
Meanwhile Esther’s granddaughter Iris, reluctant to leave the town where she grew up, wonders why she feels so left behind until a young man named Cooper Welsh arrives to attend the funeral of his much-loved stepmother. Cooper is taking on guardianship of his stepsister while dealing, badly, with undiagnosed PTSD. His celebrity chef father is distant and immersed in his career. Cooper and Iris fall in love but of course, it is not smooth sailing, not by a long shot.
Iris hits upon an idea to raise the money needed to get her grandmother back on her feet but the whole town will need to help. Will they?
This story was heartwarming without being twee. There was an edginess that gave it a real-life feeling, a depth that prevented it from being all rainbows and unicorns. The sense of small-town community was so well crafted, the characters felt real, not la-di-da church ladies but funny women with problems, sarcasm, cocktails, and charm. I became invested in them.
I did receive a comment on a previous post in which I mentioned I read this book, about the drinking culture in the story. Yes, there is a lot of drinking and it does effect the story. There are parts where people have a few drinks and get behind the wheel, and few scenes with out-and-out drunkenness. I can see where that would bother people sensitive to it but for me, it just made the characters that much more human and real. We all behave imperfectly and many of us struggle with demons. I don’t think that the book makes light of these things but presents them as facts of living in an imperfect world.
I would love to hear your thoughts if you have read the book.