“Life is like a recipe. What do you want in your life cake? What ingredients do you need to make it rise and taste wonderful?
Recipe for a Good Life
On paper, Kitty’s life is perfect. She lives in Montreal, so vibrant in the 1950s; she married her childhood sweetheart, who happens to also be a handsome movie star; and her detective novels, written under a plausibly male nom de plume, are bestsellers. But Kitty is suffocating under the truth of her life: Montreal feels chaotic and lonely without her mother, and with her father all but estranged. Her husband is a glib Lothario. And she never, ever wants to write another detective novel. When she says as much to her publishers, they panic. She’s their golden goose. And so they convince her to go on a writing retreat to a beautiful remote island, Cape Breton, where with solitude and a luxurious change of scenery, she’ll be able to whip up her next book. At least, that was the plan.
Kitty arrives in Cape Breton to a leaky, drafty shack and a cast of characters unlike anyone she’s ever met. There’s Edith, who listens in on everyone’s party line calls and never keeps good gossip to herself; generous Bertha and her enormous family…and Bertha’s son, Wallace—Walrus, to all his nieces and nephews. A gentle giant who always has half a dozen children hanging off him. Soon Kitty’s writing retreat turns her life upside down, and she has to face which parts of her life are non-negotiable and which she must cut loose. Can she preserve what she loves in Montreal now that Cape Breton is calling? If she frees herself from the weight of her past, will she float away altogether?
From bestselling author Lesley Crewe comes a story of loneliness and belonging, and a love letter to the women who have always kept the kettles warm and the neighbours fed in rural Cape Breton
Excerpt
"Did your mother change her mind?"
"Probably not, but we didn't talk about it. People just carried on back then, and I had lots of babies so I was too busy to worry about what other people thought."
Bertha popped another chocolate in her mouth. "That's a miserable way to live, anyway."
Kitty nodded. “I wish it was that simple.”
"It is and it isn't. Life is like a recipe. What do you want in your life cake? What ingredients do you need to make it rise and taste wonderful? Sometimes the simplest recipe is the best, because the more you add to the mix, the more things can go wrong. You like to write. Go home and write your own recipe. See if that helps."
"How did you get so wise?" Kitty said, smiling.
"By making a lot of foolish mistakes over the course of my life. And I'm so grateful for them. It means I lived."
Kitty went home, and thought about pouring herself a glass of wine despite the fact that it was still morning. It seemed the obvious choice for this missive, but common sense prevailed and she had a glass of apple juice instead.
She tried to write her life recipe. After twenty minutes, she walked the blank sheet of paper over to the stove and dropped it in the flames. That's when she poured the wine.
PRAISE FOR RECIPE FOR A GOOD LIFE
“Reading Recipe For a Good Life was like being on the receiving end of an enormous hug just when you need it most. Bursting at the seams with heart and humour, this book is a most glorious love letter to the amazing women of rural Cape Breton.”
– Bianca Marais, bestselling author of The Witches of Moonshyne Manor