The Shrouding Woman

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Summary: Shrouding Woman
Review: It was great. I loved this book and I think everyone should read it.

Rating:
Summary: Strong characters, good read
Review: The Shrouding Woman does a beautiful job of depicting a child's internal conflict when an unwanted strong adult turns up in her life. Evie resists her Aunt Flo at every turn, but Flo, the shrouding woman, is consistent, fair and solid. Ellsworth gets to the heart of a kid's struggle to reach out and accept what is good in her life--even if it isn't what she originally wanted. This is a good read, with a backdrop of lovely detail about life on the prairie, and some great interesting stuff about "laying out the dead."

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Summary: Death-not so scary
Review: This book deals with death on many levels. First, the main character of the story loses her mother which results in her aunt(The Shrouding Woman) to come and live with the family. Real struggles faced by people surface through the lives of these characters.

Not having known what shrouding was, I learned quite a bit about the ancestors of today's funeral home staff. These ladies would prepare the dead for a proper burial.

The book is tasteful in how they depict death. This book is neither scary, nor gross. The respect for human life is obvious. The book is a great peice of historical fiction that sheds light on lesser spoken of aspects of our history.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating book
Review: This book takes place in the same time frame as the Little House Books...but delves into a topic never touched before...well written, this book will be enjoyed by readers of all ages. Touching our heart with a young girls' attempt to deal with the death of her mother this book is a very timely piece...I found both girls and boys enjoyed this book and gave them the opportunity to address this difficult subject. This book will be a classic in years to come.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating book
Review: With spare and elegant prose, Loretta Ellsworth tells the story of Evie, who lives in southeastern Minnesota in the mid-1800s. The daughter of a Scotswoman and a German farmer, Evie is by turns kind and ferocious, learning to deal with the death of her mother and the care of a loving aunt she has never met before. There are real characters in this book, painted keenly. Aunt Flo, who comes to live with Evie and Mae and their papa, her brother, is a shrouding woman. I confess to being reluctant to read this book because of Aunt Flo's work with death and funerals. Now I'm sorry that I waited so long. What did people do to care for their dead in a time before undertakers and mortuaries? With gentle explanation and intriguing description, this book is a look at this unusual aspect of history, woven deftly into a richly textured story.