Food often takes a passive role in books. Sure, many authors garnish their novels with an occasional tasty morsel — we might be the fly on the wall as friends grab lunch to discuss their stressful jobs or the invisible third wheel when a couple splits dessert on their first date — but few writers serve us stories wherein food is the star of the plot. From cooking lessons to talented bakers and family food fights, these seven novels, each with their own flavor of literary cuisine, are sure to whet your appetite.
The Hungry Heart (2019)
by Brenda Gayle
Child advocate Nora Cross doesn’t have time for the private cooking lesson her sister won at a charity auction. Hunter Graham, the young chef, is the last person she needs telling her she’s forgotten how to have fun. After a stellar debut in New York City, Hunter’s back in Santa Fe to open a new restaurant. He lives a charmed life and he knows it. He isn’t interested in a workaholic who’s glued to her smartphone. So why is he trying to convince Nora to relax and enjoy life — with him?
The Restaurant (Piping Plover Press, 2020)
by Pamela M. Kelley
Mandy, Emma and Jill are as close as three sisters who live hundreds of miles apart can be. They grew up together on Nantucket, but Mandy is the only one who stayed. When their beloved grandmother, Rose Ferguson, passes peacefully in her sleep a week before her ninety-ninth birthday, she leaves them Mimi’s Place, one of Nantucket’s most popular year-round restaurants. There is, of course, a catch — she left the restaurant equally to Mandy, Emma and Jill — and also to Paul, the chef for the past twelve years and Emma’s first love. Before either of the sisters can sell their share, they each need to work at the restaurant for one year — or else their shares will go to Paul.
The Ingredients of Us (Lake Union, 2019)
by Jennifer Gold
Elle, an accomplished baker, has a recipe for every event in her life. But when she discovers her husband’s infidelity, she doesn’t know what to make of it. Jam, maybe? Fed up with the stale crumbs of her marriage, Elle revisits past recipes and the events that inspired them. A recipe for scones reminds her of her father’s death, cinnamon rolls signify the problematic courtship with her husband, and a batch of chocolate cookies casts Elle in a less-than-flattering light. As secrets from the past collide with the conflicts of the present, Elle struggles to manage her bakery business and maintain the relationships most important to her. In piecing her life back together, will Elle learn to take the bitter with the sweet?
Lipstick on the Strawberry (The Wild Rose Press, 2017)
by Margaret Ann Spence
Estranged from her English family, Camilla Fetherwell now lives in the United States and owns a successful catering business. Returning home for her father’s funeral, she reunites with her first love, Billy, whom she hasn’t seen since her father broke up their teenage romance. Her life feels as splattered as her catering apron. As she watches her food stylist make a strawberry look luscious with a swipe of lipstick, Camilla wonders if a gloss has been put over a family secret. Can she and Billy survive what’s underneath?
Love Is What You Bake of It (2020)
by Effie Kammenou
The only love Kally Andarakis is baking is in the form of the sweet treats she whips up at The Coffee Klatch. As a successful pastry chef running the café she always dreamed of owning, Kally is content with the life she has carved out for herself. That is, until the day Max Vardaxis walks into her café — one more complication in Kally’s life in addition to arguing parents, meddling relatives, an overly energetic grandmother, a man-crazy best friend, and the long-ago, mysterious disappearance of a grandfather. Is she ready to once again take a “whisk” on love?
A Measure of Happiness (Kensington, 2015)
by Lorrie Thomson
At 22, Celeste worked at Katherine Lamontagne’s bakery and hoped to buy the business once Katherine took early retirement. When Katherine reconsiders that decision, Celeste flees to culinary school in New York — only to return two months later. Katherine knows the signs of secret heartbreak all too well and longs for Celeste to confide in her. Will the engaging young wanderer named Zach Fitzgerald spur them towards healing and rediscovering their own appetites for truth and for love without being imprisoned by it?
The Chicken Sisters (Putnam, 2020)
by K.J. Dell’Antonia
In tiny Merinac, KS, Chicken Mimi’s and Chicken Frannie’s have spent a century vying to serve up the best fried chicken in the state — and the legendary feud between their respective owners, the Moores and the Pogociellos, has lasted just as long. No one feels the impact more than 35-year-old widow Amanda Moore, who grew up working for her mom at Mimi’s before scandalously marrying Frank Pogociello and changing sides to work at Frannie’s. Tired of being caught in the middle, Amanda sends an SOS to Food Wars, the reality TV restaurant competition that promises $100,000 to the winner. But in doing so, she launches both families out of the frying pan and directly into the fire … with a greedy producer stoking the flames, their friendly rivalry quickly turns into a game of chicken.
The Hungry Heart by Brenda Gayle
Child advocate Nora Cross doesn’t have time for the private cooking lesson her sister won at a charity auction. Hunter Graham, the young chef, is the last person she needs telling her she’s forgotten how to have fun. After a stellar debut in New York City, Hunter’s back in Santa Fe to open a new restaurant. He lives a charmed life and he knows it. He isn’t interested in a workaholic who’s glued to her smartphone. So why is he trying to convince Nora to relax and enjoy life — with him?
The Restaurant by Pamela M. Kelley
Mandy, Emma and Jill are as close as three sisters who live hundreds of miles apart can be. They grew up together on Nantucket, but Mandy is the only one who stayed. When their beloved grandmother, Rose Ferguson, passes peacefully in her sleep a week before her ninety-ninth birthday, she leaves them Mimi’s Place, one of Nantucket’s most popular year-round restaurants. There is, of course, a catch — she left the restaurant equally to Mandy, Emma and Jill — and also to Paul, the chef for the past twelve years and Emma’s first love. Before either of the sisters can sell their share, they each need to work at the restaurant for one year — or else their shares will go to Paul.
The Ingredients of Us by Jennifer Gold
Elle, an accomplished baker, has a recipe for every event in her life. But when she discovers her husband’s infidelity, she doesn’t know what to make of it. Jam, maybe? Fed up with the stale crumbs of her marriage, Elle revisits past recipes and the events that inspired them. A recipe for scones reminds her of her father’s death, cinnamon rolls signify the problematic courtship with her husband, and a batch of chocolate cookies casts Elle in a less-than-flattering light. As secrets from the past collide with the conflicts of the present, Elle struggles to manage her bakery business and maintain the relationships most important to her. In piecing her life back together, will Elle learn to take the bitter with the sweet?
Lipstick on the Strawberry by Margaret Ann Spence
Estranged from her English family, Camilla Fetherwell now lives in the United States and owns a successful catering business. Returning home for her father’s funeral, she reunites with her first love, Billy, whom she hasn’t seen since her father broke up their teenage romance. Her life feels as splattered as her catering apron. As she watches her food stylist make a strawberry look luscious with a swipe of lipstick, Camilla wonders if a gloss has been put over a family secret. Can she and Billy survive what’s underneath?
Love Is What You Bake of It by Effie Kammenou
The only love Kally Andarakis is baking is in the form of the sweet treats she whips up at The Coffee Klatch. As a successful pastry chef running the café she always dreamed of owning, Kally is content with the life she has carved out for herself. That is, until the day Max Vardaxis walks into her café — one more complication in Kally’s life in addition to arguing parents, meddling relatives, an overly energetic grandmother, a man-crazy best friend, and the long-ago, mysterious disappearance of a grandfather. Is she ready to once again take a “whisk” on love?
A Measure of Happiness by Lorrie Thomson
At 22, Celeste worked at Katherine Lamontagne’s bakery and hoped to buy the business once Katherine took early retirement. When Katherine reconsiders that decision, Celeste flees to culinary school in New York — only to return two months later. Katherine knows the signs of secret heartbreak all too well and longs for Celeste to confide in her. Will the engaging young wanderer named Zach Fitzgerald spur them towards healing and rediscovering their own appetites for truth and for love without being imprisoned by it?
The Chicken Sisters by K.J. Dell'Antonia
In tiny Merinac, KS, Chicken Mimi’s and Chicken Frannie’s have spent a century vying to serve up the best fried chicken in the state — and the legendary feud between their respective owners, the Moores and the Pogociellos, has lasted just as long. No one feels the impact more than 35-year-old widow Amanda Moore, who grew up working for her mom at Mimi’s before scandalously marrying Frank Pogociello and changing sides to work at Frannie’s. Tired of being caught in the middle, Amanda sends an SOS to Food Wars, the reality TV restaurant competition that promises $100,000 to the winner. But in doing so, she launches both families out of the frying pan and directly into the fire … with a greedy producer stoking the flames, their friendly rivalry quickly turns into a game of chicken.
