Books

An Unforgettable Journey of Faith, Family, and Incurable Southern Charm
Discover the beautifully poignant, laugh-out-loud funny, and deeply faithful family memoir that started it all. Originally published by Wm. B. Eerdmans in 2003, The Long Good Night: My Father’s Journey Into Alzheimer’s by Daphne Simpkins is back in a definitive new reprint...

Can a quiet church lady hold down the fort when life’s unexpected storms keep coming?

In this new adventure, retired schoolteacher Mildred Budge is finally embracing love, motherhood, and a quiet season to write a new chapbook. But as a fierce rainstorm rolls into town, Mildred quickly learns that holding down the fort is easier said than done.

...

Do you choose the movies or television programs for someone in your care?
Do you plan activities and invite interesting guest speakers to address residents in your assisted living homes?
How do you know which programs to choose or watch or guest speakers to invite?
To know what topics, movies, books or television shows are relevant to the people in...

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride—until a walk down the aisle changes everything.

Mildred Budge is perfectly content with her quiet life as a Sunday School teacher in the beautiful, historic Cloverdale neighborhood of Montgomery, Alabama. But her comfortable routine is delightfully disrupted when she is recruited to serve as the maid of honor...

Retirement was supposed to be quiet. Cloverdale is proving to be anything but.

Mildred Budge has spent her entire life teaching school, grading papers, and finding comfort in the predictable rhythms of her community. But when retirement finally arrives, she finds herself standing at a sudden crossroads. Seeking a fresh start, she packing up her...

When Clark Kent stepped into the glass phone booth, we knew he was about to emerge as Superman. That transformation happened every time.

Then, he used his superpowers to rescue people in distress, leaping over tall buildings in a single bound and flying faster than a speeding bullet. That spinning around in the phone booth was mesmerizing. And,...

We all grow up and have coming-of-age moments. It doesn’t matter when you were born or what age you are now.
You have in common with other people of any age the event of change that is associated with a growth in understanding, maturity, and becoming who you are.
Sometimes these moments of change are referred to as epiphanic turning points. That...

When Clark Kent stepped into the glass phone booth, we knew he was about to emerge as Superman. That transformation happened every time.

Then, he used his superpowers to rescue people in distress, leaping over tall buildings in a single bound and flying faster than a speeding bullet. That spinning around in the phone booth was mesmerizing. And,...

When Eugenia Wren retired from her job teaching air force officers how to write a business memo, she chose to downsize and move to a fish camp because when she looked out from cabin number 6, the rolling river was a better view than what she saw flashing by a computer screen.
A linguist by vocation, Dr. Wren had spent a good portion of her life...

Do you brace for Christmas and the energy it requires to meet the social demands? At the same time do you long for that elusive Christmas spirit that brings refreshment and satisfaction?

You will find amusement and nostalgia in your favorite Christmas movies.
You will enjoy singing along with your favorite characters about a white Christmas and...

When life gets too loud, finding the peace that passes all understanding is the ultimate triumph.

Mildred Budge’s cozy Cloverdale bungalow is suddenly bursting at the seams. With her friends Fran, Winston, Janie, and Chase filling up the house, Mildred's quiet sanctuary has transformed into a bustling hub of activity. As Fran cheekily observes, ...

Mildred Budge returns in Kingdom Come, a story about setbacks and how to face them.

The fourth novel in the series, Kingdom Come, continues with the stories of Mildred, Fran, Winston, Janie, and Chase.
In this story, Mildred’s Cloverdale bungalow is crowded.
Her best friend Fran observes, “For a single woman, Mildred, your quiver is getting very...

From the author of the popular Mildred Budge church lady books comes a brand-new spin-off series featuring the friends of Mildred Budge and how they see the same world Miss Budge inhabits—and her, too.

In Belle, the first book in the new series, friends of Mildred Budge see life in Cloverdale through the eyes of Belle Deerborn.
Belle Deerborn...

Belle: A Mildred Budge Friendship Story is a heartwarming spin-off from the beloved Mildred Budge "church lady" book series, offering a fresh perspective on the cozy town of Cloverdale. The story centers on Belle Deerborn, who lives next door to Mildred across an open field. While neighbors view Belle's life as confined because she acts as a...

Always a bride’s maid--never a bride. That’s part of the story of the life of Mildred Budge in this third novel in the series.

But there is more to know about this Sunday School teacher who has been recruited to be a maid of honor for her good friend’s wedding.

As someone who has routinely had to muzzle herself at weddings by not calling out when...

When my claustrophobic sister Julie Ann and her down-in-the-back husband Jody were trapped on a stalled elevator in a posh hotel, they were not alone in their distress. Two young male execs were with them. As soon as the elevator lurched heart-stoppingly close to a place near a floor level, the two young men were able to wedge open the elevator...

I was having dinner at Bucky’s bar at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Alabama, when I saw an older distinguished man sipping a martini and staring through the back window at the horizon of the Gulf of Mexico as the sun set.

And I knew him—not his name or the name of the woman he was missing and privately toasting with his small sips of that...

In Miss Budge Goes to Fountain City by Daphne Simpkins has created an uplifting, Southern-infused holiday escape that asks a question many have secretly whispered: "Don't you ever want to run away from Christmas?" Our beloved retired schoolteacher Mildred slips away from her usual routine alongside a quirky Christmas-filled companion named...

“Don’t you ever want to run away from Christmas?”
Mildred Budge’s answer to Dixie was immediate and truthful.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Mildred said with conviction.
She couldn’t stop saying yes, though the very idea that a good church lady would want to run away from the occasion during the year that marked the birth of Jesus-- the reason for the season...

From the author of the popular Mildred Budge series comes a new kind of love story about a different kind of Southern church lady.
Franklin Lovejoy is an attractive, eligible widower, and the church is full of ladies who want to sit beside him. They crawl over pews and one another to get to him. For some it is a form of Sunday morning...