Author: Kim Fay
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Date: February 8, 2022
Book Description: The #1 Indie Next Pick, in the vein of the classic 84, Charing Cross Road and Meet Me at the Museum, this witty and tender novel follows two women in 1960s America as they discover that food really does connect us all, and that friendship and laughter are the best medicine.
When twenty-seven-year-old Joan Bergstrom sends a fan letter–as well as a gift of saffron–to fifty-nine-year-old Imogen Fortier, a life-changing friendship begins. Joan lives in Los Angeles and is just starting out as a writer for the newspaper food pages. Imogen lives on Camano Island outside Seattle, writing a monthly column for a Pacific Northwest magazine, and while she can hunt elk and dig for clams, she’s never tasted fresh garlic–exotic fare in the Northwest of the sixties. As the two women commune through their letters, they build a closeness that sustains them through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the unexpected in their own lives.
Food and a good life—they can’t be separated. It is a discovery the women share, not only with each other, but with the men in their lives. Because of her correspondence with Joan, Imogen’s decades-long marriage blossoms into something new and exciting, and in turn, Joan learns that true love does not always come in the form we expect it to. Into this beautiful, intimate world comes the ultimate test of Joan and Imogen’s friendship—a test that summons their unconditional trust in each other.
A brief respite from our chaotic world, Love & Saffron is a gem of a novel, a reminder that food and friendship are the antidote to most any heartache, and that human connection will always be worth creating.
Rating: 5 Stars
Review: Told mostly as an epistolary novel. A friendship begins between two woman. Joan is a young food writer in Los Angeles when she writes Imogen a more experienced writer living in the Pacific Northwest. As they continue to write they share recipes, words of wisdom that develop into a deep friendship.
This is a darling novel. As you read the letters that start off formal and conservative, it is fun to watch the barriers break down over time. After a year of writing, Imogen flies to LA to spend a week her new friend where they forge an unbreakable bond.
This is not just about recipes and friendship as both women come across hardships, and how they support and lift each other up is beautiful.
This is not a long book and you can probably read this in one sitting, but you will walk away having had a wonderful experience and you might just have a hankering for some delicious food.
Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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