This is a story about accepting the people we loveβthe people we have to love and the people we choose to love, the families weβre given and the families we make. Itβs the story of two women adrift in New York, a widow and an almost-orphan, each searching for someone sheβs lost. Itβs the story of how, even in moments of grief and darkness, there are joys waiting nearby.
Lorca spends her life poring over cookbooks, making croissants andchocolat chaud, seeking out rare ingredients, all to earn the love of her distracted chef of a mother, who is now packing her off to boarding school. In one last effort to prove herself indispensable, Lorca resolves to track down the recipe for her motherβs ideal meal, an obscure Middle Eastern dish called masgouf.
Victoria, grappling with her husbandβs death, has been dreaming of the daughter they gave up forty years ago. An Iraqi Jewish immigrant who used to run a restaurant, she starts teaching cooking lessons; Lorca signs up.
Together, they make cardamom pistachio cookies, baklava, kubba with squash. They also begin to suspect they are connected by more than their love of food. Soon, though, they must reckon with the past, the future, and the truthβwhatever it might be. Bukra fil mish mish, the Arabic saying goes. Tomorrow, apricots may bloom.
This book took emotional hunger to new heights in metaphor. The work led me to a dark and emotionally uncomfortable place, yet I give a huge applause to the author for getting me there. For many of the pages I just wanted to jump into the phrases and either shake some sense into a character Β or just simply hug them. Cooking, mothers and daughters, love and loss, and filling the empty spot in our souls were the paramount themes in this book. The character Blot was an awesome branch to the story and I loved his name as for me, it reminded me of cleaning up a spill and in the protagonistβs case, cleaning up her blood from her incessant and heartbreaking cutting. The food references were abundant and used not only literally, but also to describe feelings, physical attributes and more.
Thankfully, the book wrapped up in an honest way and wasnβt too rushed trying to fit all the pieces together.
Quotes I liked:Β
Sometimes, no matter how hard I tried to keep my hopes down, the popped back up like a turkey timer.β
– βNot for a moment had I allowed myself to wither into sadness. Wouldnβt. Itβs impossible to know when sadness ends. Itβs a string I feared Iβd keep on pulling until I unraveled the carpeting of a million rooms.β
– βFor the rest of his life, he realized, he would have a relationship with something that was what it wasnβt.”
Good Book Fairy. I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down. I too felt like the book brought me to emotional places I hadn’t even thought of. Since I am adopted this was particularily moving.
Dear My Inspired Table, Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’m so glad this book touched you as it reminds me that a book is worth nothing without its reader, and each reader receives something different from the book! Best, L
Every day I clean the Winchestersβ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor. I try to ignore how Nina makes a... read more
Review:Strangers in the Night by Heather Webb was an intimate introduction to Frank Sinatra and his lifelong love, Ava Gardner. Admittedly, I knew next to nothing about the man or the woman behind their star status. I for sure have heard Frankβs music as my parents were, and still are, fans of his songs.The good news is that by writing in the first person from Frankβs POV and Avaβs POV, the reader is introduced to them in an accessible way. It didnβt matter if youβve been a lifelong fan or not familiar with either of them, we all start the book as equals.I was shocked at the at how fast their relationship could go from cold to hot. The way they could both love and fight with such passion and acrimony was crazy. Yet they always, well almost always, came back to one another.Learning about how they were raised, the struggles they went through, and the allowances given to men (not women) were all addressed throughout the book. Depression, alcoholism, addiction, and infidelity were commonplace in star-studded Hollywood.Fans of movies and old Hollywood will adore this book and folks like me, who knew little to none about Frank and Ava will enjoy it too!Heather Webb, Author @msheatherwebb @williammorrowbooks π What's your favorite song? π#newreview#bookreader #bookreview #goodbookfairybookreview #tbr #AddtoTBR#goodbookfairy... See MoreSee Less
Good Book Fairy. I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down. I too felt like the book brought me to emotional places I hadn’t even thought of. Since I am adopted this was particularily moving.
Dear My Inspired Table,
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’m so glad this book touched you as it reminds me that a book is worth nothing without its reader, and each reader receives something different from the book!
Best,
L