The Shrouding Woman

Set in frontier Minnesota, this is the story of eleven year old Evie and her family. Her mother has died of consumption and Aunt Flo, her father's sister, joins the family. Aunt Flo is a shrouder, someone who prepares the dead for burial, an activity that repels Evie at first, but eventually her curiosity takes over and she becomes an assistant to Aunt Flo. A first novel for Minnesotan Loretta Ellsworth, this is a sensitive story about a little known aspect of frontier life.