The Mission of Mildred Budge

Short Stories about Church Life in the South

By: Daphne Simpkins

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

What do church ladies really think? Composed and often so quiet as to be thought invisible, church ladies have secret powers to change the world.
What are those special powers?
They love well. They give well. They can often cook!
And they play an essential role in a great rescue operation for mankind. For although they appear to have Ninja warrior strengths (and can be invisible!), they are helpers to the only Superhero who ever really saved the world and mankind. They know His name and will tell you. And they can show you what it's like to brought to life and empowered to love instead of hate, to give instead of take, to keep silent when all around them the world is yammering.
Tired of the yammering and the hate? Spend a little time with a church lady and her Ninja warrior friends. They'll welcome you with smiles and open arms into their inspiring and uplifting stories.
Buy this book for yourself or a friend who needs a friend like Mildred Budge.
Daphne Simpkins is an Alabama writer with books on cooking, caregiving, and stories about church life and church ladies of the South. She's a friendly human being and relishes connections on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.com. To sign up for her newsletter about Mildred Budge and other titles from Quotidian Books, go to DaphneSimpkins.org.
Other titles about Mildred Budge include the novels:
Mildred Budge in Cloverdale
Mildred Budge in Embankment
The Bride’s Room
Shorter works about Mildred Budge are:
Miss Budge in Love
Miss Budge Goes to Fountain City
Belle: A Mildred Budge Friendship Story

Mildred

The story of Millie and her friends. I truly love these books, each one making me laugh out loud.

Mildred Budge & her community are fun to follow

I am posting this same review for each of 10 related books. In the course of a few weeks in early 2026, I listened to all of Daphne Simpkins’ Mildred Budge books. Like many before me, I fell in love with main character Mildred. There is much I recognized from my own experience in the stories. I was born in Alabama (AL), & lived 57 of my 64 years in the South (AL & Tennessee). My mother lived in Mongomery’s old Cloverdale neighborhood a few years, so the setting was familiar. The “church lady” stereotype struck me as a bit dated or too extreme at times, but there is much truth in it. The material is funny, practical, & very accurate as far as human nature. It portrays a church community living out faith, shares the truth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; & what it’s like to have the Christian experience over the long haul of life, to be convicted & grow as a Christian, & to have the Holy Spirit in your ear.

There are three series featuring the same character (primary, short adventures, friends/friendship). The “primary” four are continuous stories that follow in order from first to last. The short adventures & friends/friendship ones fit around/before/during/after the time frames of the “primary” four. Some of the same events overlap, but titles across the three series do not fully follow each other sequentially, including if you read from oldest to last by original publication date. It is obvious where some would fall, but debatable where to place others. If you want to go everywhere Mildred does, you want to consume all titles as much in order as possible. There are numerous Internet references that list the books in order (not all the same). Here is the order I recommend - (1) Miss Budge in Love, (2) Mildred Budge in Cloverdale, (3) The Mission of Mildred Budge: Short Stories About Church Life in the South, (4), Mildred Budge in Embankment, (5) Belle, (6) Bride’s Room, (7) Miss Budge Goes to Fountain City, (8) Kingdom Come, & (9) A Gentle & Lowly Christmas. Christmas in Fountain City can go anywhere near the beginning, but works best before Mildred Budge in Embankment. It makes no mention of main character Mildred Budge, but lays groundwork for when she & Dixie go there later, & refers to an earlier different Christmas than the one where Mildred Budge visits.

At the close of A Gentle & Lowly Christmas, there is plenty of story for the cast of characters that could still be told IF the author chooses to produce more!

I purchased the main four in large print hard copy paperback to donate to the local Sellersburg, IN library near me. I know plenty of ladies from age 60s into 90s who would very much enjoy them. The author herself helped me to find these through Amazon, as they were not obviously available when I searched. It was a pleasure to correspond with her via electronic mail.

I always prefer authors reading their own works, but most non author narrators on Audible are good. These books were my first Audible experience with artificial intelligence (AI)/virtual narration. I AM NOT A FAN! It was dismal to me. Despite loving the first book & falling in love with the main character, I considered not listening to any more due to the this factor alone. Though it was was generally annoying, I forged ahead due to my affinity for the material, & because the titles were available as part of my membership without costing credits or extra funds. There were mulitiple AI voices - young to middle aged sounding women (black & white) & two males, at least one of which was black. The best fit for narrator would be a white female, aged 60+, from the deep South/with a clear natural Southern accent (such as Fannie Flagg or me!) & familiarity with lingo. It would also be more pleasant to the listener to have the same voice do all titles in the series. The cadence was off. “Breaths” were taken/pauses occurred at wrong places. Emphasis was not always on the correct syllable. Pronunciation was often incorrect. I called Audible & complained & was told my input was being noted. I contacted the author in case she had input into the process & was not aware of how her work sounded. She explained that she had agreed to participate in a program to implement & develop the use of AI/virtual narration with Audible.