Undertaker Nina Sherwood is full of good advice. For example, never wear lip gloss when you’re scattering ashes.
Nina is your average 30-year-old with a steady job, a nice home – and dead bodies in her basement. As an undertaker, she often prefers the company of the dead to the living – they’re obliging, good listeners and take secrets to the grave.
Nina is on a one-woman mission to persuade her peers that passing on is just another part of life. But the residents of Primrose Hill are adamant that a funeral parlour is the last thing they need… and they will stop at nothing to close down her dearly beloved shop.
When Nina’s ‘big break’ funeral turns out to be a prank, it seems like it’s the final nail in the coffin for her new business. That is, until a (tall, dark and) mysterious investor shows up out of the blue, and she decides to take a leap of faith.
Because, after all, it’s her funeral…
The perfect antidote to all those books about weddings, this book will make you laugh until you cry, perfect for fans of Zara Stoneley’s Bridesmaids, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The Good Place.
THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
What a fun and different type of a read that I enjoyed and was really entertaining. This story is about Nina Sherwood a single 30 yo strong and stubborn woman who is an undertaker. She gets fired from her job and decides to open up a funeral parlor in the very posh, latte sipping neighborhood of Primrose Hill.
I learned more than I ever will want to know about the business of funerals, wakes and death. This is a nice light hearted read that I enjoyed and had fun reading.
I thought this was wonderfully written, with a great cast of characters. I flew through this book with ease. It was fast paced and a true delight to read.
Extract from FIVE WAKES AND A WEDDING by Karen Ross
Here’s what’s happened so
far: Nina Sherwood’s start-up funeral business,
Happy Endings, looks set for instant bankruptcy. The locals have made it plain they’d rather
she’d opened a more useful shop – one that sells vegan cupcakes would have been
a much better idea, they chorus. Nina decides to visit beauty salon owner Zoe
Banks, leading light of the Trader’s Association, hoping to convert her from
enemy to ally. Here’s what happens:
From the outside it looks like just
another Primrose Hill townhouse, freshly painted and impeccably maintained. A
blue plaque above the door announces this was once the home of Karl Marx. And
to the side, in lettering so discreet as to be almost invisible, a logo to
reassure me I’m in the right place.
It
takes me a few seconds to locate the door buzzer. I also spot a security camera
tucked into the corner of a windowsill. What if Zoe takes a look and refuses to
let me in? But no. A friendly voice comes out of the entry system’s loudspeaker
and beckons me inside.
The
space is much larger than I’d anticipated. Lavishly modern, all marble
flooring, artful lighting, rich colours, and a couple of sculptures that
wouldn’t look out of place in the Tate Modern. In the centre of the room sits a
state-of-the-art nail bar. At first glance, you’d think it was made of ice, but
I think it’s solid glass. A couple of white-uniformed beauty therapists are
giving treatments and I watch a woman of about my own age slide her hand inside
a square machine that radiates a deep violet glow. I feel as if I’ve entered a
foreign country, one with a heavenly scent of pine in the air, and I’m
intrigued.
To
my right there’s a set of steps. A sign tells me there’s a steam cabin and an
infinity duo pool tucked away downstairs. I’m eyeing up something that could be
mistaken for an octagonal coffee table were it not for the line of flickering
flames running through the centre when I realise there’s a woman standing next
to me . . .
‘Hello,’
she says. ‘Do we have you booked in?’
‘No.’
Oh well, it was a nice idea, and at least I’ve seen inside The Beauty Spot. ‘I
only wanted a manicure.’
‘You’re
in luck, we’ve had a cancellation. If you don’t mind waiting a few minutes?’
Before
I can say, ‘No thank you, I’d better be getting back to my empty shop,’ I’m
installed in an armchair next to the Coffee-Table-on-Fire-Thing. The woman –
she must be the receptionist – hands me what looks like a restaurant menu.
‘Have a look,’ she says. ‘We’ve got some excellent special offers at the
moment. And several new treatments. I’ll be back in a moment.’
My
fears about cost are reinforced as soon as
I begin to read the list of treatments. The price of a crystal-clear
microdermabrasion massage and manicure is roughly the same as I spend on
groceries in a month. As for the eco-friendly heated massage using recycled
shells from tiger clams ‘hand-picked from a minor Indonesian island’. . . let’s
just say I’ve sold coffins that were less expensive.
Purchase Links
UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Wakes-Wedding-Karen-Ross-ebook/dp/B07NXYXFSB
US - https://www.amazon.com/Five-Wakes-Wedding-Karen-Ross-ebook/dp/B07NXYXFSB
Author Bio –
As a former journalist, broadcaster and advertising copywriter, Karen Ross has followed a fairly traditional path into writing fiction. Five Wakes and a Wedding is her fourth book, and like its predecessors, the novel has two common threads: the setting is London’s Primrose Hill – Karen’s own neighbourhood – and one of the characters is a dog . . . this time he’s called Chopper and he’s almost the same size as a Shetland Pony
Karen has been self-employed for many years, and continues to work as a marketing consultant, in the absence of an offer to manage Tottenham Hotspur. By way of credentials, her other ‘job’ is trading profitably on the world’s first football stockmarket, a platform called Football Index, where you buy and sell players with real money.
Social Media Links – @ComedyKaren
https://karenross.online/
I'm sure it is lovely, but it kind of turns me off that the title mimics "Four Weddings and a Funeral".
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