Food and Fiction. discussion

Please post your reviews of books you have read here.

I don't give many books five stars but this one definitely deserved them. This is a wonderful book which I thoroughly enjoyed, so much so I could read it again right away!
It's the story of a restaurant owner/cookery teacher and her class of students all of whom learn something vital about themselves or about life through the lessons learned in the class. That sounds trite but the book is far from it. The whole thing is itself like a delicious meal with each characters chapter providing a delectable course culminating in a wonderful dessert at the end when the different ingredients of the characters stories all come together in the conclusion leaving you feeling replete.
The food is described lovingly and almost reverently which is appropriate for the protagonists the essential ingredients are just that. Each character is appealing in their own way and there will be at least one if not more that you will identify with.
I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone but especially to foodies who will devour it like a starving man! (less)The School of Essential Ingredients

I've loved Sarah-Kate Lynch's other books so had high expectations for this one and it didn't disappoint. A lovely story of Lily's journey through love,loss,finding herself and her husbands other family, forgiveness, love again and a wonderful happy ending. Set mostly in Italy in the mountaintop village of Montevedova where the League of widowed Darners, a secret society, works behind the scenes to matchmake and mend broken hearts. The characters were believable and sympathetic, even the cheating Daniel.
Unlike Sarah-Kate's other books the food didn't feature as largely as I expected however it was still a vital part of the story.
I love foodie books and books about Italy so to have both in one is a sure fire hit as far as I'm concerned, I loved it. Dolci di Love