The Recipe Club

Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel

Valerie and Lilly have been friends forever. When they are about ten in the early 1960's, ValPal's family moves away to a different burg of New York City, away from LillyPad and her parents. They are able to visit each other and talk on the phone. Even so, they also start writing letters. They form the Recipe Club and send recipes back and forth as well as letters.

Both girls have problems with their parents. Val's mother won't leave the house. Her father is a quiet man who is always inventing things and trying to hold the family together. Lilly's dad is a psychiatrist (Val's mother is one of his patients) and her mother is a busy stage actress. Their letters reflect their ongoing home problems.

Their letters continue as they grow up and go off to college. Then the unimaginable happens - they have an argument that splits them. These two have been as close as sisters. Now they're not speaking...

The Recipe Club uses emails and letters to tell most of the story. The last fifth or so is told in narrative fashion as Val and Lilly face themselves and each other. There are gaps between letters, filled in by telephone calls and visits that are mentioned in the letters. The letters not only reflect their individual lives, but also the times. Lilly especially is involved with the youth culture of the late 1960's and early 1970's.

Val is studious and quiet. Lilly is an extrovert like her mother and wants to fling herself into the world. Their personalities offset each other, each giving the other encouragement and strength from their perspective. Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel have written a novel about the friendship between women and the bonds that hold even through the worst. The ties between the two girls run deep. Although Israel and Garfinkel try to show that depth, the book itself isn't deep.

I enjoyed the story and was able to identify with the time period when these two grew up. The characters themselves, though, never became real. I hurt for them at times, but didn't feel as if I was involved. The authors tied up most of the threads except one - I still wonder about Val's children in later life.

This book is an easy, quick read, especially since there are recipes interspersed continuously throughout. The Recipe Club is a feel good book that gets its message across. Friendship and families are special. But they take work. And they can't always be forgiven quickly or easily.

Notice:  Suggestive dialogue or situations

Publicist provided for review

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