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Written on Stone
Can a woman's quest for community cooking lead beyond the grave to happiness and love?
Lucy Ingram, a food and lifestyle journalist, has spent three years navigating the grief of losing her beloved husband, Charlie. With her enthusiasm for writing about haute cuisine as flat as an undercooked souffle, she seeks solace in a unique assignment blending community cooking with heartfelt remembrance. As Lucy explores the poignant tradition of recipes etched on gravestones, she discovers not only the stories of those who have passed but also their connection to those still living. To fulfil a promise made to Charlie, Lucy must also confront her formidable mother-in-law and the Ingram family secrets. Has Lucy jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire as she arrives on the Sunshine Coast? When a charming local publican enters her life, Lucy faces an unexpected dilemma - will she let love simmer once more, or will the thought of loving again serve as a stubborn barrier?
Filled with rich flavours and the promise of second chances, this is a tender exploration of love, loss, community and the power of recipes that bring us back to the ones we hold dear.
Written on Stone weaves together themes of loss and renewal, mature romance and second chances, a sense of place, community, cooking and food.
Lucy Ingram, a food and lifestyle journalist, has spent three years navigating the grief of losing her beloved husband, Charlie. With her enthusiasm for writing about haute cuisine as flat as an undercooked souffle, she seeks solace in a unique assignment blending community cooking with heartfelt remembrance. As Lucy explores the poignant tradition of recipes etched on gravestones, she discovers not only the stories of those who have passed but also their connection to those still living. To fulfil a promise made to Charlie, Lucy must also confront her formidable mother-in-law and the Ingram family secrets. Has Lucy jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire as she arrives on the Sunshine Coast? When a charming local publican enters her life, Lucy faces an unexpected dilemma - will she let love simmer once more, or will the thought of loving again serve as a stubborn barrier?
Filled with rich flavours and the promise of second chances, this is a tender exploration of love, loss, community and the power of recipes that bring us back to the ones we hold dear.
Written on Stone weaves together themes of loss and renewal, mature romance and second chances, a sense of place, community, cooking and food.
287 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 4, 2026
2 people are currently reading
1 person want to read
About the author
Julie Holland
6 books8 followersJulie has worked in many industries: from advertising to travel, education to public relations. She dabbles in painting and photography, writes inspirational verse and is a prolific reader. Julie grew up in Melbourne before making a sea-change to the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland. With her partner, she owns an art and homewares store (Hearts and Minds Art), so can recount first-hand the challenges and rewards of the world of retail.
Her contemporary fiction novels focus on mature women who are faced with life changing choices, with emotions, family and location all playing important roles. Her stories are warm, humorous and inclusive.
Books :
THAT SUMMER IN NAUTILUS COVE
HERE-After
FULL CIRCLE
WRITTEN ON STONE
SOULFUL POEMS inclusion
To follow or get in touch with Julie, please visit:
www.facebook.com/juliehollandauthor, or www.heartsandmindsart.com.au.
Her contemporary fiction novels focus on mature women who are faced with life changing choices, with emotions, family and location all playing important roles. Her stories are warm, humorous and inclusive.
Books :
THAT SUMMER IN NAUTILUS COVE
HERE-After
FULL CIRCLE
WRITTEN ON STONE
SOULFUL POEMS inclusion
To follow or get in touch with Julie, please visit:
www.facebook.com/juliehollandauthor, or www.heartsandmindsart.com.au.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 4, 2026
Written On Stone is the fourth novel by Australian author, Julie Holland. Now three years widowed, sixty-year-old Brisbane food and lifestyle journalist, Lucy Ingram decides her life has stagnated for long enough: she needs a restart. She proposes an idea to her editor for an unusual feature article: a custom not uncommon in the southern states of the USA, a late loved one’s favourite or signature recipe shared on their headstone. She has information about one such on the Sunshine Coast.
Mia isn’t entirely convinced this will be suitable for Bella Publications, but is willing to OK the trip if Lucy includes covering the Taste of Tolbean Food and Wine Festival, motto: Sip Savour Share, while she’s there. Lucy does have other motives for visiting the area. For one, she feels the need to stand on the beach where a dangerous rip took Charlie’s life, a spot she hasn’t had the courage to go back to. She needs to share her thoughts, her ongoing love, and to tell him she’s rebooting her life to try to recapture her passion for writing.
And to honour the long-ago promise she made him, to try to repair the relationship with his mother Elyse, who has only ever barely concealed her hatred of Lucy. Elyse believes that Lucy stole her cherished son from her, keeping him in Brisbane when Elyse had wanted him to marry a local Youngberry girl and stay close. There was also something Charlie had said needed sorting out with his family but, given Elyse’s attitude, would she ever uncover that? But a promise is a promise, and Youngberry is nearby. At least she will make sure to also catch up with Charlie’s beloved, and lovely, godmother, Ginny.
The person she really didn’t want to run into is Charlie’s younger brother, Jock, who looks even more like Charlie now, but has never acted with the same charity and integrity. And while it results in Elyse knowing Lucy is in town before she’s quite ready to tackle that challenge, the impromptu pub meal with him at the Telegraph Hotel also introduces her to the pub’s very attractive interim manager, Christian Dale.
While he’s overseeing the Festival, Christian’s passion is history, and he seems genuinely interested in her gravestone recipe project, even when others are openly sceptical of the idea of preserving a family’s food legacy. Lucy gets the feeling that the attraction is mutual, and while he can connect her with local producers and exhibitors for her Festival articles, it’s Ginny’s CWA friend who knows the woman who can tell her more about the gravestones. Frustratingly, the official research paths hadn’t come up with anything really useful, so Lucy is grateful to the locals for pointing her in the right direction.
Before her time in Tolbean is up, as well as finding some recipes on gravestones, Lucy has interacted with local producers and growers, local artisans, and the owners of a historic home, in keeping with a pasture-to-plate theme for Bella Lifestyle magazine. She’s done her best to mend the Elyse fence, begun a blog to air her feelings, and organised a non-competitive community bake-off, proving that “Comfort food is rich in nostalgia and familiarity for emotional support.” Romance has blossomed, but will it last? And does that matter?
Holland easily evokes her setting, touches on some topical themes, and gives her protagonist some insightful observations: “I had been judged as being ‘too flippant’, ‘too sad’, ‘too whatever’ as a new widow – I hadn’t cared, but it always came back to remind me that nobody, including me, knew what trials and joys each person had encountered that day, that week, or in their lifetime.” An interesting, moving and thought-provoking read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by the author.
Mia isn’t entirely convinced this will be suitable for Bella Publications, but is willing to OK the trip if Lucy includes covering the Taste of Tolbean Food and Wine Festival, motto: Sip Savour Share, while she’s there. Lucy does have other motives for visiting the area. For one, she feels the need to stand on the beach where a dangerous rip took Charlie’s life, a spot she hasn’t had the courage to go back to. She needs to share her thoughts, her ongoing love, and to tell him she’s rebooting her life to try to recapture her passion for writing.
And to honour the long-ago promise she made him, to try to repair the relationship with his mother Elyse, who has only ever barely concealed her hatred of Lucy. Elyse believes that Lucy stole her cherished son from her, keeping him in Brisbane when Elyse had wanted him to marry a local Youngberry girl and stay close. There was also something Charlie had said needed sorting out with his family but, given Elyse’s attitude, would she ever uncover that? But a promise is a promise, and Youngberry is nearby. At least she will make sure to also catch up with Charlie’s beloved, and lovely, godmother, Ginny.
The person she really didn’t want to run into is Charlie’s younger brother, Jock, who looks even more like Charlie now, but has never acted with the same charity and integrity. And while it results in Elyse knowing Lucy is in town before she’s quite ready to tackle that challenge, the impromptu pub meal with him at the Telegraph Hotel also introduces her to the pub’s very attractive interim manager, Christian Dale.
While he’s overseeing the Festival, Christian’s passion is history, and he seems genuinely interested in her gravestone recipe project, even when others are openly sceptical of the idea of preserving a family’s food legacy. Lucy gets the feeling that the attraction is mutual, and while he can connect her with local producers and exhibitors for her Festival articles, it’s Ginny’s CWA friend who knows the woman who can tell her more about the gravestones. Frustratingly, the official research paths hadn’t come up with anything really useful, so Lucy is grateful to the locals for pointing her in the right direction.
Before her time in Tolbean is up, as well as finding some recipes on gravestones, Lucy has interacted with local producers and growers, local artisans, and the owners of a historic home, in keeping with a pasture-to-plate theme for Bella Lifestyle magazine. She’s done her best to mend the Elyse fence, begun a blog to air her feelings, and organised a non-competitive community bake-off, proving that “Comfort food is rich in nostalgia and familiarity for emotional support.” Romance has blossomed, but will it last? And does that matter?
Holland easily evokes her setting, touches on some topical themes, and gives her protagonist some insightful observations: “I had been judged as being ‘too flippant’, ‘too sad’, ‘too whatever’ as a new widow – I hadn’t cared, but it always came back to remind me that nobody, including me, knew what trials and joys each person had encountered that day, that week, or in their lifetime.” An interesting, moving and thought-provoking read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by the author.
January 30, 2026
Written on Stone is a contemporary women’s fiction novel about loss, love, family and food. Lucy has just lost her husband and father of her two adult daughters. She is also a food journalist and takes the opportunity to go on a road trip to where her late husband lived to scatter his ashes and visit her mother in law who she has never got along with. Whilst there she investigates and researches gravestone recipes that she heard about which is very popular overseas and pitches this as an idea for a story to her boss. When she arrives she is caught up in the small town and reluctantly connects with her husband’s mother who seems to be struggling more than ever but still dismisses her. Her brother in law seems to be involved in some shady business dealings which is affecting her mother in law. Add to all this a romance with a local man and the discovery of a group of women who have recipes to share and stories to tell.
This novel was very pleasant to read and I recommend it for readers of women’s fiction and romance. Thank you to the author for a copy of this novel for review.
This novel was very pleasant to read and I recommend it for readers of women’s fiction and romance. Thank you to the author for a copy of this novel for review.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews