Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price Purveyor of Superior Funerals Summary and Reviews

The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price Purveyor of Superior Funerals by Wendy Jones

The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price Purveyor of Superior Funerals

by Wendy Jones

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Published:
  • Mar 2014, 272 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Under the heady influence of a springtime picnic and vague notions of obligation, young undertaker Wilfred Price blurts out a marriage proposal to a woman he barely knows. Much to his consternation, she says yes. As Wilfred attempts to extricate himself from the situation, his betrothed's overbearing father presents further complications. And when Wilfred meets another woman he does wish to marry, a comedy of manners ensues.

Set in rural Wales during the 1920s, Wendy Jones's charming first novel is a deceptive, subtly humorous entrance to the mores and social conventions of a world gone by.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Wilfred Price is a cute story but I feel like I've read it too many times before. Sadly, it is derivative, even bordering on trite." - BookBrowse

"Starred Review. Though the novel's first, pre-marriage half dawdles, and the Wilfred/Flora relationship is too gauzy, the second half is exceptionally strong." - Kirkus

"Jones narrates [her characters'] journeys with tenderness and insight, capturing the era's quaint speech and mores without trivializing the characters. The novel's place and time are beautifully evoked as well, through small authentic details." - Publishers Weekly

"Wilfred's sentimental education is wrought so delightfully and affectionately." - Sunday Times (UK)

"Light, compassionate drama about a small, very tightly bound, ancient corner of the world." - Guardian (UK)

"This is a spryly told tale whose heart is an ample match for its more knowing qualities." - Daily Mail (UK)

This information about The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price Purveyor of Superior Funerals was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Wendy Jones

Wendy Jones was the first person to do an MA in Life Writing at UEA and is currently completing a PhD in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, where she teaches. She wrote Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl, a biography of Grayson Perry and hosts Interesting Conversations, a literary program on Resonance FM.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more historical fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Our Evenings
    Our Evenings
    by Alan Hollinghurst
    Alan Hollinghurst's novel Our Evenings is the fictional autobiography of Dave Win, a British ...
  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

I like a thin book because it will steady a table...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.