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The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County
The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County
By Claire Swinarski
What an odd title for a novel! But as soon as you start reading, you will realize that it is very appropriate. Some of the main characters in the book are members of the funeral committee at St. Anne’s Catholic Church. When there is a death, they quickly move into action to provide the expected luncheon for attendees at the funeral “knowing they couldn’t fix broken hearts but might as well feed them.” Any food left over is packaged up and sent home with the bereaved so they don’t have to worry about food for the following difficult days.
As you get to know Esther, you will also meet her family and witness their love for each other. Esther is one of the kindest people you will ever meet. She is a widow, and she is frustrated with the process of growing old. Her generosity and empathy for Hazel, a young single pregnant woman she befriends on a Catholic website leads her into financial danger, but Esther’s family and friends gather round to support her. Unfortunately, Esther’s background and community stress the importance of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. The situation she is in is shameful to Esther, but it would also be shameful to accept help.
Esther’s granddaughter Iris comes to the rescue in a different way when Annabelle, a childhood resident of Ellerie County, passes away. Her family arrives for the funeral but find their reservations are a problem. Iris has a house almost ready for use as an Airbnb and lets them stay there. The grateful family includes a celebrity chef and his daughter. Cooper, his son from a previous marriage, is part of the dysfunctional family group. Cooper’s own mother is less a mother to him than Annabelle had been. A former EMT, he also suffers from PTSD.
The characters and their situations drive the plot and engage the reader. I felt immersed in the friends and family groups in the small town and could even feel the cold during the winter. The author of The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County excelled in physical and emotional descriptions. Without a Hallmark kind of ending, she still manages to provide a hopeful conclusion to her story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Fiction, Women’s Fiction, New Adult
Publication: March 12, 2024—Harper Collins
Memorable Lines:
Esther was from an age where loving your neighbor meant loving your actual neighbor, not just adding an emoji to your Twitter name in times of crisis. She helped people just because they were standing in front of her.
…why couldn’t she just lie? It was the Catholic in her. The guilt clung to you like powdered sugar. You’d find the stuff in your hair days later.
They all thought you had to be in love to commit. They didn’t realize it was the other way around: that love came from commitment. Nobody ever tells you when you get married how many days you’ll wake up in the morning and want to strangle the other person. No, to them it was all Pinterest boards and buttercream flowers.
Keep Your Family Close–sisters and friends
Keep Your Family Close
by Annette Dashofy
With murders and multiple disappearances, this mystery will keep you turning pages. You’ll have to pay attention to figure out who did what to whom. Once you figure something out, you may need to double check your work, just as the detectives had to, because you may not have it right. Also, there is always the issue of who is telling the truth and what motivations the characters have for what they say and do. There is one egotistical, abusive man that the detectives (and I) would like to pin a murder on, but they have to stick to the evidence. If he did commit the murder, can they prove it?
Emma was a potential romantic interest for Detective Matthias Honeywell in the first book. She reappears in this book, and her focus is still on locating her sister Nell who has been challenged with drug problems since the death of their parents. Both women have found themselves in difficult, abusive situations. In this book we meet their childhood friend Eric who will do anything for them. Also returning is Kari, a yoga instructor, who becomes a good friend to Emma. Emma puts herself in dangerous situations by going to some seedy bars and a homeless tent area looking for Nell and following leads on the murderer.
I enjoyed Keep Your Family Close and look forward to the next book in the series.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Fiction, Mystery
Notes: #2 in the Detective Honeywell Mystery Series. When I read the first book in the series, I suspected I would see some of the characters again, and happily I was right. You could read Keep Your Family Close as a standalone, but I felt more grounded having read the first in the series.
Publication: 12/8/2023—One More Chapter (Harper Collins)
Memorable Lines:
Carlisle turned his fierce glare on Matthias, who met it with the one he’d mastered long ago. No twenty-something with a trendy haircut could outlast Matthias where intimidating looks were concerned.
Where the Guilty Hide–#1 in a good mystery series
Where the Guilty Hide
by Annette Dashofy
Faced with multiple home invasions where the residents were present, but captive, Detective Mattias Honeywell relives old pain. His partner, the older Cassie Malone, makes a good foil for him as he navigates life and work as an investigator. The other main character is Emma Anderson, a freelance photographer who appears to be hiding out from something or someone in a small trailer in Erie, Pennsylvania.
This novel is full of twists and turns and plots that overlap. I enjoyed playing detective along with Honeywell and Malone. I liked Emma and hoped for the best for her as she tried to unravel trauma from her past, stay alive, and find her missing sister.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Fiction, Mystery
Notes: #1 in the Detective Honeywell Mystery Series. I have an ARC of the second book in the series that I will read next, but knowing that I enjoyed Annette Dashofy’s Zoe Chambers Mystery Series, I chose to read the first in this new series before I moved my attention to #2, Keep Your Family Close. This is not a cozy mystery, but I anticipate seeing some of the characters again.
Publication: 2023—One More Chapter (Harper Collins)
Memorable Lines:
Emma’s bruises and scrapes were almost healed. The trauma to her heart and soul hadn’t even begun to mend.
Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
with A Guide to Reading and Reflecting by Karen Swallow Prior
What do you think of when you hear the word “Frankenstein?” For many, that name conjures up an ugly monster pieced together from the flesh of others. A quick Internet search of images associated with that name bring up iconic pictures that are a part of our popular culture. Many movies have been made of the book Frankenstein as well as versions and spin-offs of the Gothic novel. In truth, Victor Frankenstein is the name of the scientist who created the monster who was never named in the book, but may be referred to as “The Creature.”
Clearly a classic, Frankenstein, was the creation of 18 year old Mary Shelley as a result of a dreary day’s writing contest with a small group of men, that included her husband the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. The little group fought to overcome the ennui of the season. Mary Shelley won and her story was first published anonymously.
The structure of the story is initially a little confusing, but it becomes clearer as the tale progresses. Captain Robert Walton’s narrative frames the story with his recounting, as his ship headed to the North Pole, of the sighting of an unknown creature and then the rescue of a man who was pursuing the creature. Much of the book is epistolary as Walton shares the story of Victor Frankenstein’s life with his sister in England.
The reader is also given the Creature’s viewpoint. At eight feet tall and very different looking, he is viewed as a threat. At times the reader might feel some sympathy for him as he wants love and acceptance, but he also reveals a murderous side. When he realizes he will never be integrated into human society, he approaches Victor with the idea of creating a woman to be his wife. This request ignites another ethical dilemma for Victor who has already ignored his moral obligations when he gave life to the Creature and then abandoned him. His bad decisions turn his life and that of his loved ones into tragedies.
The editor of this volume, Karen Swallow Prior, is a Professor of English and Christianity and Culture. She states that the major themes of Frankenstein are “creation, creator, guilt, ambition, reason vs. emotion, nature vs. nurture, friendship, sexuality.” She points out that Shelley does not write from a biblical point of view, but that these themes are timeless. This is obviously a complicated book and important in terms of its effects on our culture. The editor Prior attempts to make it more accessible in her introduction and in the background she presents about the time in which it was written. Not an easy read, Frankenstein offers a lot of food for thought. The reader will probably argue with the characters over their motivations and actions and will be hard pressed to find a likable character among them. Victor Frankenstein, in particular, proves over and over again that he is self-centered. His own happiness and a fulfilled ego are so important to him that his emotions swing wildly and greatly affect his health while he disregards how his actions hurt others.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Fiction, Gothic, Classic, Christian
Notes: 1. The editor ends each section (volume) with Reflection Questions which are a wonderful resource for individuals or groups studying Frankenstein. She also includes Questions for Further Reflection which address the whole book.
2. The appendix adds the introduction to the 1831 edition.
3. Prior has helpful footnotes on the appropriate pages to define words that are unfamiliar to readers in the twenty-first century.
4.Frankenstein is subtitled The Modern Prometheus pointing to the tension between a creation and its creator.
5. Although Frankenstein is not a Christian novel, Prior’s goal is to show readers how to approach it from a Christian viewpoint and to the glory of God
6. Prior has a series of classics that she has edited in a similar way. I have read several of these with my Book Club. Some have been more enjoyable than others, but all have resulted in good discussions.
7. This was written during the transitional period from Enlightenment to Romanticism.
Publication: 1818—Original publication
2021—(as edited by Prior) B&H Publishing
Memorable Lines:
I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone and the elixier of life. But the latter obtained my most undivided attention: wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery. If I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!
I was benevolent and good: misery made me a fiend. Make me happy and I shall again be virtuous.
“Hateful day when I received life!’’ I exclaimed in agony. ‘’Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred.”
Tess of the d’Urbervilles–new look at a classic
Tess of the d’Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy (and Karen Swallow Prior)
First published in serialized form in 1892, this classic has been read and studied over the years. Summaries are available everywhere on the Internet, so I want to share with you the particular edition I read this summer with my book club. It includes “A Guide to Reading and Reflecting” by Karen Swallow Prior who is a literature professor and author herself. We have read other books that include her notes, but I think this is the best one of the series that we have read.
Prior gives a lot of background on Thomas Hardy and the times in which he lived that are essential for understanding Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Born to a working class family, he longed for a scholarly life which at times seemed out of his reach. For example, he desired ordination but was unable to afford the university costs and so became a draftsman for a church architect. He studied on his own, and this book is full of classical and Biblical references. He also read books that are contradictory to traditional Christianity. He became an agnostic who attended church all his life. These are a few of the conflicts that show up thematically in Tess of the d’Urbervilles along with sexual purity being essential to women, but not to men. The plight of agricultural workers can not be missed as well as the difficulties of overcoming class rules and status. Nature itself and self-determination are also central themes.
In this edition, Prior helps the reader delve into the deeper meanings of the book. Hardy creates interesting characters and a solid plot, but also a certain line to destruction and despair for Tess. Prior points out Hardy’s use of literary techniques but also how to read this novel from a Christian worldview. I think her comments would also be interesting to those with a secular point of view.
Prior does not change anything in the original text. She does include brief, helpful footnotes that explain words that might be unfamiliar to a modern reader as well as classical allusions. Hardy divided the book into seven sections called “Phases.” Prior ends each phase with reflection questions which are valuable in pointing out aspects the reader might miss and in demanding deeper introspection. Prior concludes the book with questions “For Further Reflection” which apply to the text as a whole.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Classic, Fiction
Notes: There are currently 6 classics in this series.
Publication: 2022—B&H Publishing Group
Memorable Lines:
From Prior: Tess of the d’Urbervilles is not merely dark and pessimistic but is tragic—tragic in the true literary sense.
From Hardy: The clock struck the solemn hour of one, that hour when fancy stalks outside reason, and malignant possibilities stand rock-firm as facts.
From Hardy: It is Tess Durbeyfield, otherwise d’Urberville, somewhat changed—the same, but not the same; at the present stage of her existence living as a stranger and an alien here, though it was no strange land that she was in. After a long seclusion she had come to a resolve to undertake outdoor work in her native village…
Letters of Trust–guarding secrets
Letters of Trust
by Wanda E. Brunstetter
When Eleanor and Vic get married, they move to Paradise, Pennsylvania, where, given the name of the town, they should expect a happily ever after. Eleanor is a very sweet Amish young lady with a strong faith. Despite her mother’s hesitation about Vic based on reports of his rumspringe experiences before he joined the church, Eleanor is in love with Vic, a carpenter, and is determined to be a good wife to him. For the most part, their first year of marriage is a happy one. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes Vic’s family, and Vic is overcome with guilt over what happened. Unable to handle his feelings and unwilling to ask for help, Vic seeks survival through an addiction which threatens his marriage, his job, his future child, and his relationship with family, friends, and church. Most importantly, the addiction stands between Vic and God. Eleanor learns that Vic will need to hit rock bottom before he stops denying his need for help.
I have read several Amish themed books by Wanda E. Brunstetter. Letters of Trust has a more serious focus than the others I have read. My heart went out to the fictional Eleanor as she tries to be a good wife and hold her marriage together. She shares her trouble first with her long time friend Doretta in letters, knowing she can trust her not to discuss her problem with others as gossip. The two young ladies pray for and encourage each other. Eleanor sees the dangers in Vic’s addiction and shows her own strength when she stands up to and for Vic as he struggles in his own personal mire of guilt and depression.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Christian, Romance
Notes: 1. #1 in The Friendship Letters Series
2. At the end of the book, the reader will find Discussion Questions and notes from the author about why she chose to write about such a sensitive subject.
3. Also included is a recipe for Chocolate Chip Pie, a favorite of one of the characters.
Publication: March 1, 2023—Barbour Publishing
Memorable Lines:
Evening light poured into the room, but no one wanted to eat a thing. Their world had stopped, and they’d been left hanging over a cliff filled with the darkness of grief.
When Vic entered the house behind Eleanor, a wave of exhaustion settled over him like a dark cloud about to dump rain.
People should realize that we’re all human, and sometimes we do things we shouldn’t, Vic thought. Just because we get baptized, join the church, and go to worship services regularly doesn’t mean we’re perfect, by any stretch of the imagination.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine–healing for the traumatized
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
by Gail Honeyman
I had heard lots of chatter about Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine since before it was published. I found it to be one of those books that stays with you past the last page: the characters are unforgettable. It is Gail Honeyman’s debut novel, but it is so well written that you would think her an experienced author.
This is the tale of Eleanor Oliphant who clearly had a difficult childhood and then was shuttled off to a series of foster homes. She is very smart, but awkward socially. She endures her workweek in the accounting department at a graphic arts business, relieving her pain on the weekends with several bottles of vodka. Friendless, she decides to change her life by having a relationship with a singer she has a crush on from afar. Meanwhile, reality intervenes when she meets Raymond from the IT department. He is slightly unkempt, chews with his mouth open, and wears trainers (sneakers) all the time, but is also kind, understanding, and patient. Through Raymond and with help from a counselor, Eleanor learns what it can be like to have unconditional love and the physical touch of another human being.
She is tormented by weekly calls from “Mummy” who continues the verbal abuse and threats that Eleanor suffered during her childhood. The last part of the book centers around Eleanor facing the demons of her past. I was not expecting the ending in the way the story played out. It made me mentally revisit the plot and the trauma Eleanor had endured in a new light. In summary, it is a good book, but made for bad bedtime reading.
Rating: 5/5
Notes: 1. Blurbs about the book included “incredibly funny” and “hilarious.” I would label it “dark and sprinkled with humor.”
- If child abuse is a trigger for you, you might want to give this one a pass. Thankfully, there are not a lot of graphic descriptions, but it is an essential thread that runs through the book.
- Includes obscenities.
- This is a good book club read as there is so much to discuss. Penguin Books includes a Readers Guide comprised of an introduction, questions for discussion, and a conversation with the author.
Category: General Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Publication: 2017—Penguin Books
Memorable Lines:
His mother was still talking. “Denise was eleven when Raymond came along—a wee surprise and a blessing, so he was.” She looked at him with so much love that I had to turn away. At least I know what love looks like, I told myself. That’s something. No one had ever looked at me like that, but I’d be able to recognize it if they ever did.
It was halfway to dark by then, with both a moon and a sun sitting high in a sky that was sugar almond pink and shot with gold. The birds were singing valiantly against the coming night, swooping over the greens in long, drunken loops. The air was grassy, with a hint of flowers and earth, and the warm sweet outbreath of the day sighed gently into our hair and over our skin.
Was this how it worked, then, successful social integration? Was it really that simple? Wear some lipstick, go to the hairdressers and alternate the clothes you wear? Someone ought to write a book, or at least an explanatory pamphlet, and pass this information on.
Snowflakes Over the Starfish Café–a lost dog brings hope
Snowflakes Over the Starfish Café
by Jessica Redland
In the first part of Snowflakes Over the Starfish Café, the reader really gets to know the characters in this book and the story behind each one of them. Hollie and Jake are the main characters; both of them have pasts immersed in tragedies. Those two tell the story in their points of view. The timeframe bounces around between the present and various times in their pasts slowly revealing the details of the personal disasters that they don’t seem to be able to overcome. The changes in timeframes and narrators are clearly delineated and never confusing. There are a lot of supportive friends and a few you would like to kick to the curb. “Mr. Pickles” is a tiny homeless shih tzu who plays a huge role in this romance, but will he be big enough to bring Hollie and Jake together and help overcome their issues?
All of the action occurs in or near Whitsborough Bay on the North Yorkshire coast. The book is filled with Britishisms that I enjoyed immensely such as references to wearing their “waterproofs” or shops displaying bags of “candyfloss.” I also learned a lot about the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) with its amazing volunteers.
As frequently occurs in romance novels, Jake and Hollie inch towards resolution and a happily ever after. Then suddenly there is a twist that neither Jake, Hollie, nor the reader could have predicted. It seems they may be forced to retreat into isolation abandoning what they had together.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: General Fiction, Romance
Publication: August 31, 2021—Boldwood Books
Memorable Lines:
Angry waves snatched at the deserted beach, spitting spray over the railings, while ominous grey clouds threatened rain.
“People can still be in love but not like each other very much and sometimes they can like each other but not be in love.”
“Then he’s not right for you, but one day you’ll meet someone who is. Someone who makes you laugh every day, hugs you simply because it’s Tuesday, holds you when you cry, and dances in the rain with you.”
Autumn Skies–sweet romance with action included
Autumn Skies
by Denise Hunter
Survivor’s guilt is a difficult subject, but it is a theme in Denise Hunter’s Autumn Skies, a touching romance. When Molly finds a buyer for the family business and home, it turns everyone’s world upside down at the Bluebell Inn, but that is nothing compared to the effect of her sister Gracie’s attraction to the mysterious guest, Wyatt. Both have secrets and neither wants to let the other get close.
Gracie and Wyatt are likable characters. Gracie is young, independent, and determined to show her brother and sister that she is an adult. Wyatt, a Secret Service agent, was shot in the line of duty. If he wants to prove he has psychologically recovered from the event, he has to reach back into his past and recover from an even worse childhood trauma. He comes to Bluebell Inn for that sole purpose. I recommend this excellent read. It’s a clean page-turner with some adventure and action. The characters are trying so hard that you will want things to work out for them despite what seems like insurmountable problems.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Romance, Christian
Notes: This is the final book in the Bluebell Inn Novels, a trilogy. It is perfect as a standalone, but you will find yourself wanting to read the other novels in the series.
Publication: October 20, 2020—Thomas Nelson
Memorable Lines:
Molly loved this about her man. While her first thought was worry, his was prayer. He offered a quiet, fervent prayer that hit all the points she was fretting over.
For a man with a poker face, he was wearing regret this morning like a neon suit.
Whereas Grace was like a balmy summer evening, her sister was like a whirlwind. And her brother a sudden storm front.
Stay: Discovering Grace, Freedom, and Wholeness Where You Never Imagined Looking
Stay: Discovering Grace, Freedom, and Wholeness Where You Never Imagined Looking
by Anjuli Paschall
A spiritual journey is such a personal adventure. Anjuli Paschall shares hers in the book Stay. She also reaches out to other women encouraging them to lean into God through the irritations of daily life and the times of actual trauma and to stay with the pain of hard places because you’ll find God there. She suggests that, instead of building up walls of protection and withdrawing from the fray or working harder to force things to happen, we need to stay with Jesus and “drink life-giving water.” With intriguing chapter titles like “The Guard Shack: An Invitation to Make Mistakes” and “Old Spaghetti Factory: An Invitation to Hold On,” this book is filled with anecdotes and Paschall’s descriptions of how God led her to grow spiritually.
Paschal is a good writer and very effective at drawing the reader into her frame of mind as she navigates the various circumstances in her life. I highlighted many passages and agreed with most of the things she said. I am amazed at the number of turns in her life journey. She is the mother of five, wife of a pastor, photographer, founder of a social media site that helps other moms in truly desperate straits, and a spiritual counselor. Now add writer to that list.
Realizing that I am isolating statements that come from a rich context, I feel I must point out what I perceive to be a major conflict. Towards the end of the book, the author states “My one and only purpose in life is to be loved by God.” I disagree with that and she does too as earlier in the book she states: “We all have one calling. One deep, right, true, foundational calling in life—to love God and to love others.” That philosophy is found in the Bible in Matthew 22 in the New Testament and in Exodus 20 and Leviticus 19 in the Old Testament. Although, I have a few points of disagreement, in general I find this book to be refreshing in the author’s honesty and transparency. She doesn’t try to appear to have it all together. She shares her fears and vulnerabilities as she also shares her hopes and dreams. She encourages women to abandon shame over never being enough and stay the course resting and trusting in Jesus.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Bethany House for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Christian, Self-Help
Notes: Discussion questions are included.
Publication: March 31, 2020—Bethany House
Memorable Lines:
I’m learning to be okay with my mistakes. They don’t define me or determine my worth, but simply direct me to God.
I believe we all can be placeholders of heaven for others. We can create a seat at a table, offer a single cup of coffee, leave bread on a doorstep, or clear an hour in our schedule. God will continually bring us people who are desperately in need of home. If we can embrace each other’s differences, move toward the disabled, welcome the foreigner, laugh with a child, talk with the elderly, all kinds of heaven can burst open like a flower in bloom here on earth. Even the tiniest spaces can become a place for others to taste eternity.
No amount of getting, accomplishing, or achieving will ever satisfy the soul. The soul focused on gaining power, influence, and admiration will only grow hungrier.
education pathways 