Foodie Fiction

A culinary novel is a feast for the senses. These books are available to borrow from the Lititz Public Library.

The Abundance by Amit Majmudar
When they learn their mother is dying, a brother and sister return home with a plan to immerse themselves in their Indian roots by learning to prepare her favorite recipes.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
A successful caterer’s food is rooted in generations of recipes tied to her North Carolina family, but her peaceful life is transformed by a new next-door neighbor and the return of a prodigal sister.

The Last Chinese ChefThe Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones
On a mission to validate a paternity claim against her husband’s estate, a food writer travels to China where she meets a young American-born Jewish Chinese chef who is translating a celebrated book about cooking in the imperial court.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
The students that gather in Lillian’s Restaurant for cooking class seek recipes for something beyond the kitchen from their insightful teacher.

The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella
Sent to occupied Naples in 1943 to deter Allied officers from marrying their Italian girlfriends, a British officer suffers with a menu limited to warmed-up rations until a beautiful country girl joins the officers’ staff as a cook.

The Girls' Guide to Love and Supper ClubsThe Girls’ Guide to Love and Supper Clubs by Dana Bate
When her relationship collapses, a young woman seizes the chance to do what she’s always loved and launches an underground supper club out of her new landlord’s townhouse.

Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
A celebrity chef shows her friends and family the joy of fulfillment and manages to spice up her own life at the same time.

Up From the Orchard by Eleanor Widmer
Three generations of an immigrant Jewish family operate a restaurant from their Lower East Side Orchard Street tenement apartment.

The Lost Art of MixingThe Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister
A restaurant owner manages an unexpected challenge while sharing her days with a circle of friends and regulars.

The Whole World Over by Julia Glass
Hired as the personal chef to the governor of New Mexico, a young woman leaves behind her husband and Greenwich Village pastry business to head west with her four-year-old son.

Persia Café by Melany Neilson
Set in the early 1960s, a girl hopes to find a way out of Persia, Mississippi by learning all she can from the African American cook at her aunt’s café.

Blue Plate Special by Frances Norris
A Kentucky-born young woman tries to make a life for herself as a food stylist for a gourmet magazine in Los Angeles.

Already HomeAlready Home by Susan Mallery
Just as a woman realizes her dream of opening a cooking store with the help of her adoptive mother, her birth parents arrive on a quest to reconnect with their firstborn.

Angelina’s Bachelors by Brian O’Reilly
A young grief-stricken woman lives through her passion for cooking and soon finds herself cooking for seven bachelors, an endeavor that helps to heal wounds and bring people together.

Kitchen Chinese : A Novel about Food, Family, and Finding YourselfKitchen Chinese by Ann Mah
After the end of a relationship, a Chinese-American woman leaves New York for Beijing and finds a job as a food critic at an expat magazine.

Aftertaste by Meredith Mileti
A New York restaurateur’s life takes a legal and personal tailspin after a blow-up with her philandering husband leads to court-ordered anger management classes.

 

Originally published on July 19, 2013 in the Lititz Record Express.