What do you think?
Rate this book
Win a free print copy of this book!
10 days and 08:24:51
50 copies available
U.S. only
We Thought They'd Never Leave: Musings on Food and Family
Not yet published
Expected 27 Oct 26Win a free print copy of this book!
10 days and 08:24:51
50 copies available
U.S. only
From Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe winner Tony Shalhoub comes a delightful, heartfelt memoir about food, family, recipes, and the stories we pass down around the table.
Every summer for over five decades, more than fifty members of the Shalhoub family have gathered in Door County, Wisconsin, for a week of home-cooked meals, fiercely competitive card games, old stories, new memories, and just enough chaos to keep things interesting.
Written with his daughter Josie Adams, We Thought They’d Never Leave is Tony Shalhoub’s warm and deeply personal reflection on the people who shaped him. Through stories spanning four generations—from an orphaned Lebanese boy who survived wartime hunger to the sprawling family he would one day help create—Tony traces the Lebanese American family traditions, meals, and rituals that continue to bring the Shalhoubs back together year after year.
Along the way, the beloved actor known for Monk and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel reflects on growing up as one of ten children in a lively Lebanese American household in Green Bay, Wisconsin; navigating family life, work, and parenthood; and helping preserve a reunion that has become a beloved family institution. Also included are twenty treasured family recipes, ranging from stuffed grape leaves and tabbouleh to Midwestern chili and cherry pie.
Filled with unforgettable characters, deeply moving stories, and Tony’s signature humor, We Thought They’d Never Leave is an invitation to join the Shalhoub table, where everyone has an opinion, everyone is expected to pitch in, and there’s always room for one more.
Every summer for over five decades, more than fifty members of the Shalhoub family have gathered in Door County, Wisconsin, for a week of home-cooked meals, fiercely competitive card games, old stories, new memories, and just enough chaos to keep things interesting.
Written with his daughter Josie Adams, We Thought They’d Never Leave is Tony Shalhoub’s warm and deeply personal reflection on the people who shaped him. Through stories spanning four generations—from an orphaned Lebanese boy who survived wartime hunger to the sprawling family he would one day help create—Tony traces the Lebanese American family traditions, meals, and rituals that continue to bring the Shalhoubs back together year after year.
Along the way, the beloved actor known for Monk and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel reflects on growing up as one of ten children in a lively Lebanese American household in Green Bay, Wisconsin; navigating family life, work, and parenthood; and helping preserve a reunion that has become a beloved family institution. Also included are twenty treasured family recipes, ranging from stuffed grape leaves and tabbouleh to Midwestern chili and cherry pie.
Filled with unforgettable characters, deeply moving stories, and Tony’s signature humor, We Thought They’d Never Leave is an invitation to join the Shalhoub table, where everyone has an opinion, everyone is expected to pitch in, and there’s always room for one more.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 27, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I know this isn’t my usual fare, but I had to check out a book by Tony Shalhoub. I have been a fan since he was on Wings. In these pages you met the man, not the actor, a man with a true love of family and some sound advice for keeping families together.
Generations of Shalhoubs have gathered yearly for a large family reunion. Shalhoub recounts memories of these gatherings, right down to the rules of Oh Hell!, their favorite card game.
Like all families, the Shalhoub clan hold different ideas and include all kinds of personalities. They have agreed on ways to contain conflict by avoiding some subjects and put family first. “Family, imperfect and complicated as it is, is worth the effort,” he writers, “like democracy[…]it requires patience. Compromise.”
Living together does not automatically mean understanding one another. from We Thought They’d Never Leave
Shalhoub shares his family’s immigrant story, how war brought starvation, how the taste of a baguette was more than food, it was “proof that abundance still existed somewhere in the world.” Food bonds his family, a symbol of love.
I was gleeful to learn that young Shalhoub was a great reader, imagining himself acting out the stories, which lead to school plays and finally a career.
As a boy, he picked cherries with his siblings, earning spending money. His father had the kids run a restaurant one summer. He found ways to teach the kids responsibility.
Family recipes are shared at the end of the book. I love Lebanese food! Labneh, flatbread, Fattoush, tabbouleh, stuffed grape leaves, lentils—some of my favorite foods! Then there is Mama Shalhoub’s warm potato salad, chicken chili, macaroni and cheese. Plus, Tony’s Fish Stew and how to make his pancakes. Most of all, I can’t wait to try Loubieh bi Zeit, green beans simmered in tomatoes with meat. Shalhoub’s description of eating this dish just makes my mouth water!
For a comfort read about family and food, you can’t do better.
Thanks to Gallery Books for a free book through NetGalley.
Generations of Shalhoubs have gathered yearly for a large family reunion. Shalhoub recounts memories of these gatherings, right down to the rules of Oh Hell!, their favorite card game.
Like all families, the Shalhoub clan hold different ideas and include all kinds of personalities. They have agreed on ways to contain conflict by avoiding some subjects and put family first. “Family, imperfect and complicated as it is, is worth the effort,” he writers, “like democracy[…]it requires patience. Compromise.”
Living together does not automatically mean understanding one another. from We Thought They’d Never Leave
Shalhoub shares his family’s immigrant story, how war brought starvation, how the taste of a baguette was more than food, it was “proof that abundance still existed somewhere in the world.” Food bonds his family, a symbol of love.
I was gleeful to learn that young Shalhoub was a great reader, imagining himself acting out the stories, which lead to school plays and finally a career.
As a boy, he picked cherries with his siblings, earning spending money. His father had the kids run a restaurant one summer. He found ways to teach the kids responsibility.
Family recipes are shared at the end of the book. I love Lebanese food! Labneh, flatbread, Fattoush, tabbouleh, stuffed grape leaves, lentils—some of my favorite foods! Then there is Mama Shalhoub’s warm potato salad, chicken chili, macaroni and cheese. Plus, Tony’s Fish Stew and how to make his pancakes. Most of all, I can’t wait to try Loubieh bi Zeit, green beans simmered in tomatoes with meat. Shalhoub’s description of eating this dish just makes my mouth water!
For a comfort read about family and food, you can’t do better.
Thanks to Gallery Books for a free book through NetGalley.
Review of advance copy
This book was such a delight! I received an advanced audio copy from libro.fm and listening to the book read by Tony and his daughter Josie was perfection! Very well written and entertaining. I loved learning about Tony's childhood, his big family and how they all make time to get together every year. The recipes at the end all sound absolutely delectable too!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
We Thought They’d Never Leave is exactly the kind of book I didn’t know I needed. Tony Shalhoub (yes, that Tony Shalhoub — Monk, Mrs. Maisel, all of it) co-wrote this with his daughter Josie Adams, and it shows — there’s a real warmth and intimacy to the writing that you can’t fake. Part memoir, part cookbook, it centers on the Shalhoub family’s annual reunion in Door County, Wisconsin, and the Lebanese-American traditions that have held them together for generations. The stories are funny and heartfelt, the writing is genuinely good, and the recipes feel like they actually belong to real people. If you love food memoirs in the vein of Stanley Tucci’s work, this one belongs on your shelf.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
As soon as I saw this, I needed it, I grew up watching Monk and 13 Ghosts as well as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, so this was something I really wanted to check out and thanks to Gallery I got to!
I loved he wrote this with his daughter and it felt like a extra added layer to the book and giving you more insight into his life and his family.
I also enjoyed how this was written and went so well with the family style reunion they have evey year, just like bringing rh family together these stories were then reliving those best moments again, almost like the reunions themselves.
Plus the recipes, I'm a sucker for a good recipe and want to try some of these out.
I loved he wrote this with his daughter and it felt like a extra added layer to the book and giving you more insight into his life and his family.
I also enjoyed how this was written and went so well with the family style reunion they have evey year, just like bringing rh family together these stories were then reliving those best moments again, almost like the reunions themselves.
Plus the recipes, I'm a sucker for a good recipe and want to try some of these out.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
We Thought They’d Never Leave was such an enjoyable read! Part memoir, part cook book, Tony Shalhoub pieces together parts of his youth as a Lebanese American, his early acting career, and his family’s annual reunion in Northern Wisconsin all through the lens of food. Co-written with his daughter Josie, Shalhoub recounts many stories of his younger days, but the driving force is the summer retreat to Door County, Wisconsin where the entire family, including his 9 siblings and their children and grandchildren, gathers for a week each July to relax, recharge, and eat. The final 20% of the book contains family recipes, many of which I am excited to try.
June 20, 2026
Reviewed for Library Journal, full review appears there.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews