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Being Dead Is No Excuse

The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral

Being Dead Is No Excuse Open the full-size image

Contributors

By Gayden Metcalfe

By Charlotte Hays

Formats and Prices

On Sale
May 7, 2013
Page Count
272 pages
Publisher
Balance
ISBN-13
9781401305741

Price

$9.99

Price

$13.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. ebook $9.99 $13.99 CAD
  2. Audiobook Download (Unabridged) $18.99
  3. Trade Paperback $21.99 $28.99 CAD

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“[A] lifelong Southerner … exposes the culinary and cultural last rites of the deep South … as sidesplitting as it is politically incorrect.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

A hilarious guide to the intricate rituals, customs, and etiquette surrounding death in the South-and a practical collection of recipes for the final send-off.

As author and southerner Gayden Metcalfe assert that people in the Delta have a strong sense of community, and being dead is no impediment to belonging to it. Down south, they don’t forget you when you’ve up and died—they may even like you better and visit you more often! But just as there is an appropriate way to live your life in the South, there is a tasteful way of departing it. The funeral is the final social event of your existence so it must be handled flawlessly.

Gayden Metcalfe, native of Greenville, MS, is steeped in the stories and traditions of this rich region. She reminisces about the prominent family that drank too much and got the munchies the night before the big event—and left not a crumb for the funeral. Then there was the lady who allocated money to have “Home on the Range” sung at the service, and the family that insisted on a portrait of their mother in her casket.

Each chapter ends with an authentic southern recipe that will come in handy if you “plan to die tastefully”, including Boiled Bourbon Custard; Aunt Hebe’s Coconut Cake; Pickled Shrimp; Homemade Mayonnaise; and Homemade Rolls.

“Sure to have Southern hostesses nodding their perfectly coiffed heads in unison.” —USA Today

“If you want a good laugh . . . pick up a copy.” —Washington Post

Genre:

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Gayden Metcalfe

About the Author

Gayden Metcalfe is a native of Greenville, MS, where she has risen from holding several key offices in the Dirt Daubers, a pre-teen garden club, to executing various duties in the Greenville chapters of the Garden Club of America. She has served as the vice president of the Delta Council and publisher of Delta Wildlife magazine. She is married to Harley Metcalfe III and has two children. This is her first book. Charlotte Hays is a Delta native and former gossip column contributor at the Washington Times, New York Observer and New York Daily News. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Learn more about this author

Charlotte Hays

About the Author

Gayden Metcalfeis a native of Greenville, MS, where she has risen from holding several key offices in the Dirt Daubers, a preteen garden club, to executing various duties in the Greenville chapters of the Garden Club of America. She has served as the vice president of the Delta Council and publisher of Delta Wildlife magazine. She is married to Harley Metcalfe III and has two children. She is the author of three books.Charlotte Hays is a Delta native and former gossip column contributor at the Washington Times, New York Observer and New York Daily News. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Learn more about this author