Plenty: A Memoir of Food and Family by Hannah Howard

*Warning: this memoir discusses anorexia, bulimia and a miscarriage

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It's only fitting I read a food memoir in the month of Thanksgiving, which is all about the food. I want to have a special appetizer on Thanksgiving and I haven't figured out just what it will be. I will say, however, this memoir gave me some inspiration, and my appetizer will definitely have a cheese component to it! 

Hannah Howard is a food writer and has a varied background in all things food: waitressing, working at a cheese shop, traveling and writing about food, and supporting local restaurants in New York City. 

Hannah has also suffered from anorexia and bulimia and her relationship with food is definitely unusual. How do you pick food as a career when it is the one thing that drives you to constantly count calories, skip meals, and gorge yourself?

The restaurant & food industry is male dominated, and Hannah decided it was time to start seeking out those women who are making a difference in a variety of ways: from opening their own restaurants, to creating getaways for foodies, to being responsible for the introduction of goat cheese to an American audience. 

As Hannah travels and makes connections, she gets married and decides to try for a baby. It's a struggle for her to make peace with her body, but as she meets and befriends women in the food community, she begins to appreciate and come to terms with her relationship to food. She has some pretty big highs and lows in her journey to motherhood. 

I haven't met a cheese I haven't liked, so all of Hannah's descriptions of various cheeses kept me salivating! Her obvious love and appreciation for food and the people who create masterpieces from simple ingredients again reminded me to stop, savor, and take time to enjoy food. It's easy in a busy world to just eat whatever is easiest and not even taste it. It also made me a bit brave--I am always hesitant to try cooking something complicated. This was a good wake up call to step out of my comfort zone and explore and enjoy the process (and the results, if I don't muck them up!). 

I enjoyed this memoir and Hannah's journey to motherhood. It was exciting to read about so many women who are making waves in the food world. Hannah's struggle with anorexia and bulimia also helped me understand the mental pain women go through trying to uphold extreme society standards and expectations. 

Rating: 4/6 for a thoughtful memoir about food, motherhood, and mental illness. Hannah's writing is engaging, thoughtful, and from the heart. 

Available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook. 

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Plenty: A Memoir of Food and Family by Hannah Howard

Returning to a Favorite Author: A Country Escape by Katie Fforde

 

My bestie Candace and I share a love of Katie Fforde novels. We've been reading them for--oh gosh, about 20 years? Maybe more. First discovered her when B&N featured her novel Wild Designs way back in the 1990's. I bought the hardcover (still have it) read it super fast, and decided I would always read Katie Fforde novels whenever I could. 

Unfortunately, they can be hard to get in the U.S. I told Candace we needed to visit the UK just to stock up on novels we can't easily get here. She's up for it. 

I bought a used copy of A Country Escape and I'll confess I stayed up way past my bedtime Monday night so I could finish it. There is something comforting about Katie's novels--almost like having a cozy blanket wrapped around me. Her novels usually involve a female main character who is a bit older (not in her early 20's) and has an interesting career or finds herself doing something completely out of her normal life. In A Country Escape, Fran finds herself leaving London and her career as a chef to move to a small farm she just may inherit if she can keep it going for a year. Fran's distant Aunt Amy has moved to a care home and has asked Fran to take over her farm. What makes this farm special is the herd of cows that Amy has kept on her farm for decades--they are special cows and must not be sold or bred outside of their breed. Lucky for Fran, the farm comes with the brilliant Tig, the gruff yet friendly brilliant keeper of the cows. 

When Fran is faced with an overwhelming amount of milk that may be tossed out, she decides to make soft cheese, hoping she can sell it and keep the farm from going under. That starts her on an interesting path using her chef skills to save Hill Top Farm from a greedy relative who is also trying to inherit the farm. Who will Amy leave the farm to in her will? 

Of course there is romance for Fran--but it's subtle and refreshing. The cast of characters are all charming and heck, I'd love to visit Hill Top Farm myself one day if I could! 

It's been awhile since I've read a Katie Fforde novel, and I kick myself for missing a few over the years. I'll be trading books with Candace as we both try to catch up. These are perfect novels for anyone who wants a charming, quick read with  a full cast of characters who are all pleasantly pleasant. 

Rating: 4/6 for a delightful novel about taking a chance at a new life, using life skills to create opportunities when presented with set backs, and the rewarding, yet hard working life of a farmer. Brew a pot of tea, settle back, and enjoy the British countryside. 

Available in hardcover and ebook. 

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Returning to a Favorite Author: A Country Escape by Katie Fforde

Blush by Jamie Brenner

 

Click here to purchase from Amazon

I spotted this novel a few months ago as I was ordering books for my library and thought "Hmmm" this may be an interesting read. 

I was correct.

 I will confess to drinking a glass of wine Friday night as I was reading the last 50 pages, but it wasn't a rose. I kid you not, if you're not a wine drinker, this novel will certainly tempt you to try a few. If you are a wine drinker, just settle back, pop the cork, and pour yourself a glass while you enjoy this novel about a family winery, 80's glam novels, and cheese. Yes, cheese. You'll want some cheese and crackers, too. 

The Hollander Estates Winery has been a hot spot for parties, day trips, and a big tourist attraction on the North Fork of Long Island for decades. What were once potato fields is now a gorgeous winery, complete with an equally gorgeous home to the Hollander duo of Leonard and Vivian. Newly married, the couple created the winery through years of hard work and effort. Their son Asher--who does not want to work at the winery, helps runs it. Their daughter Leah Hollander Bailey runs a successful cheese shop in New York City. Leah was, sadly, not given the chance to help run the winery with her father. He is not about to have a woman make the big decisions. Leah's cheese shop is not her passion and now her lease is up and she's got to make a decision to find another location or close shop. 

Leah, Steve (her husband), and Sadie her college age daughter arrive at the winery for a week of rest and relaxation. Instead, they hear the news that Leonard must sell the winery--the whole kit and caboodle, due to big losses. Vivian is beyond bereft--she had no idea. Again, Leonard not sharing. Leah wants to do whatever she can to save the winery, even if it means angering her father by pushing the idea of creating a Hollander Rose--the one thing Leonard refuses to do. 

Oh, there's a whole lot going on here! Sadie is in a college thesis crisis; Steve wants to move the cheese shop and is not happy Leah keeps putting off returning to NYC; Vivian is crushed she will lose her home. Asher just doesn't seem to care, and his much younger girlfriend rubs Vivian the wrong way. 

Enter Jackie Collins, Judith Krantz, and a few other big authors from the 1980's when glamorous women's fiction was all the rage. Sadie begins reading it, Leah follows (remembering how she would sneak the books as a kid), and some of that magic 80's tough heroine fiction rubs off. The show isn't over, not by a long shot. 

I so enjoyed this novel that I'm probably going to read Jamie Brenner's other novels, too. I didn't read Jackie Collins or Judith Krantz back in my teen years, but I was certainly aware of them--and can't forget those glam covers, either. It's pretty interesting how the characters they wrote about influence these women of 2021. Some call it trash fiction, but really, if it speaks to you, entertains, and years later still makes an impact, why would you call it trash? Sounds like darn good storytelling to me. 

This would make a great book club choice--head out to a winery with your friends to sip, nibble, and discuss. There is a lot to talk about! Probably enough for at least one bottle of wine...

Rating: 4/6 for a swiftly moving family novel with plenty of strong women who are just not going to take being in the back seat anymore. Plenty of information about how a winery operates, the magic of growing grapes, and oh, plenty of drama, too. 

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio. 

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Blush by Jamie Brenner

How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry

The only bad thing I have to say about reading this novel is that I couldn't sit down and read it all in one day.  Instead, I had to fit it in a little bit each day for over a week, and it was frustrating because I just wanted to sit and enjoy it in one big gulp. 

Stacey Ballis and Jenny Colgan fans have a new author to love--Veronica Henry.  She's got a pretty good backlist of novels, but they're not available in the U.S., which I hope changes soon.  

Emilia Nightingale returns to Peasebrook, a lovely little town in the English countryside, to take over her father's bookstore, Nightingale Books.  Emilia's father was a beloved figure in town, and his death leaves not only Emilia lost and grieving, but quite a few of the townspeople, as well.  Emilia plans on taking over the bookstore, but has a slimy businessman angling to buy the store so he can gain access to much needed parking space for an apartment building behind the shop.  She also finds out her father wasn't the best businessman, and the bookshop is in danger of closing.  

The cast of characters rounds out this novel and keeps it from being all focused on Emilia and the bookshop.  Ms. Henry cleverly weaves books, reading, and the bookshop into multiple storylines--from the local wealthy married woman who had a affair with Julius Nightingale; to Thomasina, the very shy yet talented chef who has a crush on the local cheesemonger; and Alice, engaged to a sophisticated city man, but not realizing her heart lies with someone else in Peasebrook. There are even more storylines; Emilia's got her own chance at love, too.  I was happy reading about all of the people and their situations, and felt completely at home in the English countryside. 

A HUGE thank you to Viking/Penguin Books for the opportunity to read this before publication.  I'm afraid I wouldn't have found this book otherwise, and that would have been such a shame.  

Rating:  5/6 for the perfect read to take me away from everyday life and into a bookshop that I hope exists somewhere in this world.  Wherever it is, I'd like to visit it sometime.  

Available on Tuesday, August 15th in hardcover and ebook in the U.S. 

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How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry