by Ruth Reichl
First published 2014
Billie Breslin moves from California to work at Delicious, New York's premier food magazine. When the publication closes suddenly, her colleagues scatter but Billie accepts an unusual assignment. She remains alone in the empty downtown offices, answering the complaint hotline and recipe questions. The job seems tedious until she finds a hidden room in the magazine's library. There she discovers letters from Lulu Swan, a twelve-year-old girl who wrote to chef James Beard during World War II. As Billie reads Lulu's correspondence, she explores downtown restaurants and works weekends at a Little Italy food shop. The young girl's bravery during wartime helps Billie confront her own struggles. She must face the panic attacks that strike whenever she considers cooking, reckon with painful memories of her beloved older sister, and decide whether she can risk opening herself to love again.
Genres: family-life, historical-fiction, contemporary, food-writing
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: California, New York, Little Italy
Period: World War II
380 pages · Hardcover · Random House
Content warnings: anxiety, depression