First published 1988
Cornelia stands in her Mississippi kitchen, watching Tweet roll out piecrust with practiced hands. For fifteen years, these two women have shared this routine. Cornelia owns the house and the privilege that comes with being white and wealthy. She maintains her perfect world through careful silence and polished surfaces. Tweet works as her housekeeper, carrying the weight of poverty and a past filled with ghosts. The black woman has seen enough of the world to know its cruelties. As the years pass, both women face their own crises. Uncertainty shakes Cornelia's controlled existence. Despair threatens to overwhelm Tweet's weary spirit. In these moments of need, something unexpected happens. Each woman becomes the other's salvation. Their relationship transcends the boundaries that should separate them. Transgression and guilt bind them together, but so do memory, illusion, gratitude, and love. In their shared kitchen, rolling piecrusts and making conversation, they discover the surprising resilience that lives in the human heart.
Genres: domestic-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, african-american, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Mississippi
Period: 20th Century
272 pages · Paperback · Penguin Publishing Group
Content warnings: racism, sexism