The Flicker of Old Dreams by Susan Henderson

She works in her father's mortuary.  Her mother died when she was born.  She and her father love each other but neither has a warm relationship with the other.  She has a better relationship with dead people than she has with live people...

HarperCollins and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published March 13th.

Mary is almost thirty and really hasn't even had a date yet.  She's a little too odd for the small town she lives in.  Everyone knows how she lives and what she does.  Who wants to be a mortician?

When the woman next door is fading from life, her son comes back to town.  He'd been involved in the grain accident where his older brother died and no one has ever forgiven him.  Mary tries to avoid him but he needs information on how to handle the future burial, so she has to deal with him.  Her father tells her to avoid him.  Despite all that good advice, she finds herself getting closer to him.

The dead are almost alive in this story and the living are almost dead.  Mary has to make a big decision about her future.  Will she stay in this town until she dies, too?  Or will she pursue the dreams she had in past?

Most people make those decisions earlier in life but Mary is a bit slow in growing.  Now she can see a reason why she might want to dream...