Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The Funeral Dress - Teaser Tuesday

The Funeral Dress: A Novel
Today I'm featuring an excellent book I just finished reading, THE FUNERAL DRESS by Susan Gregg Gilmore. Through realistic dialogue and beautifully-written description, the author paints a vivid picture of the people living in poverty in the remote "hollers" of the Appalachian Mountains. This is a story that will stay with me. 

When the story opens, the main character, Emmalee, has recently given birth to a daughter, but she refuses to reveal the name of the father. Here's a partial description of the shack where she lives, as Emmalee awakens one winter morning.

Teaser Tuesday (at 12% on my Kindle):
She needed to pee but refused to confront the cold that had settled inside the house wrapped in plywood and pieces of tar paper. In the winter, it grew so bitter sometimes, a glass of water left by the bedside froze solid by morning, even when the stove burned hot in the other room. 

Genre: Women's Fiction
Number of Pages: 370
Amazon Link: The Funeral Dress

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:
Emmalee Bullard and her new baby are on their own. Or so she thinks, until Leona Lane, the older seamstress who sat by her side at the local shirt factory where both women worked as collar makers, insists Emmalee come and live with her.  Just as Emmalee prepares to escape her hardscrabble life in Red Chert holler, Leona dies tragically.  Grief-stricken, Emmalee decides she’ll make Leona’s burying dress, but there are plenty of people who don't think the unmarried Emmalee should design a dress for a Christian woman - or care for a child on her own. But with every stitch, Emmalee struggles to do what is right for her daughter and to honor Leona the best way she can, finding unlikely support among an indomitable group of seamstresses and the town’s funeral director. In a moving tale exploring Southern spirit and camaraderie among working women, a young mother will compel a town to become a community. 
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday


31 comments:

  1. Someone else posted a tease from this today. I like your tease and I think now I must read The Funeral Dress. Here is mine and Mine

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  2. Replies
    1. Thank you for leaving a comment and for following. THE FUNERAL DRESS was a really good book. I'll probably reread it.

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  3. I love the sound of this one....thanks for sharing, and also for visiting my blog. I have another book to add to my lists!!

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    1. The author does a really good job of taking the reader into the Appalachian Mountains communities. I really cared about the characters.

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  4. I can relate to that feeling about not wanting to get out of bed, even though my house is heated. Now I feel like a wimp. The writing looks good. Here's Mine

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    1. Lots of times I sleep in socks, so I know what you mean!

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  5. Oh, sounds so cold!!! Great teaser. Thanks for stopping by my TT.

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  6. Definitely does sound cold!

    Thanks for visiting my teaser!

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  7. We're already at that level here in Montana. Ok, maybe not frozen solid, but that's because the furnace is running.

    Great teaser. Mine is here

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    1. I think the author does a great job of showing the setting in which the story takes place.

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  8. Hi Sandra,

    I know just how she feels about waiting until the last minute to get out of bed on a cold night, only if I am desperate will I venture forth!

    I love everything about this book, from its lovely cover, its interesting sounding author and that fantastic synopsis of descrimination against Emmalee.

    All of Susan's books are heading for my reading list ... if it will take it!

    Thanks for sharing and enjoy the rest of your week,

    Yvonne

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    1. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did. The story starts out slowly but I think the author was setting the mood. I loved the author's "voice" throughout.

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  9. That sounds like a tough way to live! It sounds like this book will have a nice emotional touch to it, happy reading :)

    Here's my teaser

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    1. I enjoy reading books that take me to places I've never been. I've never seen or experienced the kind of poverty that the author portrays in THE FUNERAL DRESS or known people like the characters she created. Good writing.

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  10. Wow!! I cannot imagine being that cold in my own home.... modern technology roks!!

    Thanx for visiting my TT
    Naomi @ Nomi’s Paranormal Palace

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  11. Interesting Teaser! Thanks for stopping by my TT @ Addicted Readers! :)

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  12. I loved that section, too! I enjoyed the book.
    Thanks for stopping by!

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    1. I've discovered so many good books through Teaser Tuesday. If you posted about THE FUNERAL DRESS on your blog, that may be where I came across it!

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  13. Great teaser and the book sounds like one I would remember for quite awhile after reading.

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  14. Great teaser!! Thank you for stopping by my blog!!

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  15. Very nice teaser! Thank you for sharing!

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  16. I like the sound of this book. Will have to keep an eye out for it.

    Thank you for stopping by Write Note Reviews.

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  17. This sounds like a great read. I'm glad I'm not in that house sounds way too cold for me ;-) Here is my http://cleopatralovesbooks.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/teaser-tuesday-october-29/

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  18. Sounds like an interesting read! Thanks for stopping by :)

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  19. The teaser really shows how hard it must be raising a child there with no money, food, or help. It's sad. Great teaser though and thanks for visiting my blog!

    ~ pdbkwm

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  20. This is something I'd defo read.
    http://cupandchaucer.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/teaser-tuesday-october-29/

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  21. Looks like a great book. Thanks for sharing! ~Deanna

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  22. Wow. This sounds great. And great teaser. I never would have survived that kind of cold. It's 68 degrees in my house and I'm under a blanket, freezing :-)

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