Funeral Songs for Dying Girls

In Funeral Songs for Dying Girls (2023), Cherie Dimaline has beautifully captured the yearning and loneliness of motherless teenager Winifred, who lives with her father and her pug Mrs. Dingleberry in a house located at a cemetery. Winnie has the habit of wandering the cemetery, which leads to the rumor that it is haunted.

But the haunting might not be a bad thing, because it will bring tours and money to the cemetery. It might be closing and her father laid off–but then what would they do far away from their mother’s ashes? While trying to call her mother’s ghost to help her, someone else appears. Her name is Phil, and she died in a wild hollow near the cemetery when she was Winifred’s age.

Now Winnie is in trouble–Phil won’t trust her if the crowds come–but she doesn’t quite know how to call her reliably, either. And her annoying cousin keeps showing up. The author is a member of the Georgian Bay Métis community, and Winifred has indigenous heritage as well.

The author, unfortunately, used a fair amount of anti-fat bias, specifically with regard to descriptions of their dog, and a disliked teacher. But when Phil, the ghost, describes her mother, it is in a fat-positive way, as “perfection in a pair of XXL jeans”. So I have to put it into the MIxed Anti-Fat and Fat Positive category.

I liked it enough that I plan on reading the author’s earlier The Marrow Thieves series, though. Hopefully it won’t have any anti-fat bias.