Ann-Marie A

This was great! It was a very enjoyable mix of family, food, and magical realism fiction, with a very appealing narrator. I'd recommend it to book clubs, people who enjoy fiction featuring cooking and food, and fans of Alice Hoffman or Sarah Addison Allen. Ginny is a very shy young woman with Aspergers, though she doesn't know it. She copes with stimulation overload by cooking or imagining cooking, with all its evocative tastes and smells and textures. Recipes are included. She is an excellent chef, though not formally schooled. She and her sister Amanda have just lost their parents in an accident. Amanda, who lives with her husband and small kids, wants to sell the house, while Ginny doesn't want any changes. Ginny finds that her cooking can draw up family members' ghosts, who seem to be warning her about something. What she learns about her family history, her personal growth, and the sisters' relationship is the crux of the novel's plot. The book comes out in April 2011; I read an advance reader's copy courtesy of Bookbrowse.