Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

Primrose knows her parents weren't killed a sea during a storm, but no one else in her small community thinks so. After staying with a local elderly woman, Miss Perfidy, who had served as her babysitter, the town council tracks down her Uncle Jack, who moves to town and starts a business trying to develop the town and turn it into a tourist destination. Meanwhile, Primrose befriends a local business owner, a local restaurant called the Girl on the Red Swing, where everything is served on a waffle. As she learns cooking from Miss Bowzer, and deals with Miss Perfidy's increasing eccentricity, she spends her days at the dock watching for her parents to come home and having accidents, which lead to her being placed in a foster home. The book is a touching and funny slice of life about a small town and the variety of people who live there. Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath. Listening Library, 2002.