Book request: I read a book in 2010 about a coming of age girl who was left at the home of an older woman by her mother. The mother and the boyfriend went off to go find jobs or something. The older woman may have been a great-aunt. The girl is understandably upset at this, and is disgusted by the rural life of the older woman, who likes to eat fiddleheads out of a jar. There's a scene where the girl tries to set mouse traps, but uses rat traps instead, and the older woman corrects her before any mice get horribly mutilated. The older woman has a sad backstory, maybe a daughter who died. The mom comes back without the boyfriend. The girl learns to accept and love the woman, and eats fiddleheads herself.

Matching book description: Lenore is Cornelia’s mother and Cornelia’s fix-up project. What does it matter that Cornelia won’t talk to anyone and is always stuck in the easiest English class at school, even though she’s read more books than anyone else? She feels strong in the fixing. She cooks vegetable soup so Lenore will eat something other than Ring Dings; she lures her out of bed with strong cof Lenore is Cornelia’s mother and Cornelia’s fix-up project. What does it matter that Cornelia won’t talk to anyone and is always stuck in the easiest English class at school, even though she’s read more books than anyone else? She feels strong in the fixing. She cooks vegetable soup so Lenore will eat something other than Ring Dings; she lures her out of bed with strong coffee and waffles. She looks after the house when Lenore won’t get out of bed at all. So when Lenore and her boyfriend take off for Vegas leaving Cornelia behind with eccentric Aunt Agatha, all Cornelia can do is wait for her to come back. Aunt Agatha sure doesn’t want any fixing. Maybe this time it’s Cornelia who could use it?From the Hardcover edition. ...more