In her debut novel, Carr reminds us to take a minute, and to wonder, because we never know what’s going on behind the facades of people we see every day. Rarely is this more true than with middle-aged and older women. Often, they’re the glue holding us all together: families, communities, cultures, and nations.

Such were the women of Hanley, Minnesota, in 1976. They worked behind the scenes; their names were not in lights. But like all of us, their lives were tangled with love and loss. With despair, humor, and hope. With family and community. With loneliness. Lunch Ladies reminds us of a simpler time – before we broadcast our lives online – when our joys, quirks, and heartbreaks were the stuff of tender fiction.

It’s 1976 and there’s a bicentennial parade in the works. Is this a task for the school district’s lunch ladies? Their answer would be “no.” So how is it that Crystal, Coralene, and Sheila find themselves crafting food stands to feed parade goers, come the Fourth of July?

Crystal has other things to do: matching lonely travelers from the newspaper obituaries with kind souls still living. Coralene doesn’t need this nonsense. She has a home and family, and a nephew she must save before it’s too late. Is it already too late for Sheila? Her safe harbor is a booth at Denny’s on Friday nights, with the only person who might help her move beyond her past.

Lunch Ladies - Crystal, Coralene, Sheila
Lunch Ladies - Crystal