First published 2011
Every Monday night, eight students arrive at Lillian's restaurant for cooking class. Claire struggles with her new role as a mother. Tom, a lawyer, reels from a devastating loss that has upended his world. Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer, navigates her adjustment to American life. The long-married couple Carl and Helen harbor secrets their classmates cannot imagine. Each student comes to master Lillian's culinary techniques, but they unconsciously seek recipes for healing deeper hungers. As they work with ingredients, aromas and textures transform them in unexpected ways. The students' lives begin to intersect and interweave beyond the kitchen walls. Lillian's food carries its essence into the hidden corners of their existence, creating surprising and satisfying changes in each person's journey toward wholeness.
Genres: fiction, family-life, contemporary, culinary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, slice-of-life
286 pages · Paperback · Suma