Book Review of
The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County

Lynn's Review

The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County by Claire Swinarski is a literary fiction book published in 2024.

This is not my normal type of read. I usually prefer historical fiction over literary fiction, but after reading some great reviews of this book, I decided that it would be a great vacation read. 

The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County is set in a small town in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. 

It follows a grandmother, her friends, fellow funeral ladies, and her granddaughter.

The funeral ladies are a group of ladies who have been cooking for funerals for over seventy years. Their food has comforted many families after the death of a loved one. 

Cooper and his family end up in Ellerie County after the death of his stepmother. He becomes the legal guardian to his younger half-sister after his stepmother dies. Their celebrity chef father is focused on his booming career and top-ranked television show. 

Ellerie County and the people that live there change Cooper and his family. 

I liked this book but didn’t love it. I liked the small-town setting. I grew up in a very small town in Oregon, so I know what it is like to have a town and a group of people help you through tough times. However, I struggled to like the main characters and their decisions in this book. 

For me, this was a three-star read. It was also a bit too PG-13 for me.