It’s more than southern storytelling. It’s southern storytelling with a side of biscuits.
When Grace Collier comes back to Heartpine, Tennessee, she's thinking about endings. The end of her job. The end of her engagement. Instead, she finds a new beginning. A journey of discovery that will reconnect her to her home place…as well as her own past.
Like so many southern tales, this one starts out in the kitchen. Grace’s Aunt Jess – the wise, loving woman who raised her after her parents passed – is collecting recipes for a new community cookbook. It’s not long before Grace finds herself an honorary member of the cookbook committee; and next thing she knows, she’s busy gathering up all the rich stories that come with those recipes. All the surprises, all the mysteries, all the memories. Along the way, she gets to know a townful of unforgettable characters. Stirs up a few old secrets. And comes to terms, finally, with her own legacy of loss.
It’s about the recipes, yes. But more than that, it’s about the relationships. It’s a journey that links families and generations. A journey of homecoming and redemption.
And just for fun, every chapter includes an iconic southern recipe – so you can cook them up yourself and see what all the fuss is about. From cornbread to collards, from pulled pork to pineapple casserole, you’ll find them here. There’s even a never-fail recipe for the best sweet tea you’ve ever tasted (not that a true southern cook would need a recipe for that, heaven knows!).
Touching, positive and uplifting, The Heartpine Recipes is a generous serving of warmth, humor and heart.
Review
This book was a lovely, heart-felt narrative of life in small town southern America. The narrative blends second and third person so well that it feels as if you're sitting in the kitchen, listening to this story as you share some award-wining apple crisp.
At the heart of the novel is open woman's search for her future among the memories of the past--particularly, the food memories of her past. She is helping to create a town cookbook and, through it, exploring who she has become and who she hopes emerges from this time of introspection.
The recipes were my favorite characters. They showed how the foods we eat and the way we approach food creates culture and community. The selected recipes look delicious and ready to hop off the page. This book is a fast, pleasant read for lovers of food and anthropology as it shows how much of our lives is shaped by the recipes we hold dear.
Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D57K46J1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D57K46J1
Author Bio:
You’ve probably read some of L.C. Fields’s writing, somewhere along the line. That’s because L.C. has spent a couple of decades at ad agencies, writing for a few of the great icon brands. Some of that experience is baked into L.C.’s fiction.
L.C. lives in rural Southwest Virginia – about an hour’s drive from the imagined town of Heartpine – off a winding gravel road. It’s a grand place to listen to the wind, watch the animals (including one ridiculously cute Kerry Blue Terrier) and soak up inspiration.
The Heartpine Recipes is L.C.’s first (published) novel.
Social Media Links:
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lcfieldswriter/
Website: https://lcfields.com
Amazon author page: https://amazon.com/author/lcfields_writer
