Frozen Dinners

An award-winning memoir about how one girl grew up while her father chased the American Dream across the country during the mid-twentieth century.

After World War II, the United States evolved economically through an explosive combination of opportunities, entrepreneurs, and growing industries. By 1954, families began to enjoy the new pastime of evening television and increased the demand for a new product known as frozen TV dinners.

A poor father and farmer from Wendell, Idaho, had the audacity and vision to start his own trucking company to haul and deliver frozen food across the country—and subsequently built an impressive fortune that included several successful businesses. Elaine Ambrose, a bestselling author, departs from her award-winning humor to show life as this man’s daughter. She chronicles the struggles her family experienced under the strain of an absent father and describes the high tensions and familial rivalries that arose after his untimely death. Using actual courtroom transcripts, she tells of the brutal legal battle that propelled her mother into dementia. She hopes to offer hope and inspiration to others who endured a contaminated family story to prove that anyone may grow beyond painful memories and find success, happiness, and warmth for themselves.

Winner of 2019 Distinguished Favorite for Memoir from the Independent Press Awards

Praise for Frozen Dinners

“This tell-all memoir . . . will resonate with anyone who has endured family dysfunction and will defrost the hearts of readers everywhere.” —Joely Fisher, actress, singer, and author of Growing Up Fisher

“Clear-eyed, evenhanded, concise, and loaded with fascinating details about the struggles and joys of growing up female in the fifties and sixties.” —Booklist