Book Review: From the Kitchen of Half Truths by Maria Goodin

And now for one of my favorite books of 2012!

Synopsis: Rational scientist Meg May can’t remember anything about her childhood, but that’s okay, because her cookery-obsessed, fairytale-telling mother has filled her in on all the important details. Meg knows that her father was a French chef who died in a tragic pastry accident; that as a pre-
mature baby she was put on a sunny windowsill to ripen; that the scar on her cheek happened when a claw popped out from one of her mother’s crab cakes.

Meg used to love these stories but, now that her mother is dying of cancer, she’s finding her fantasy world hard to navigate. As Meg spends one last, elegiac summer with her mother, she longs to know who her father really is - but her mother is in denial about their mysterious past as well as about her own impending death, and Meg may not discover the truth in time.



Review: Ever read one of those books that has you hooked from the opening paragraph? This is one of them! Keeping with the British reading theme I had going (The Death of Bees and Summerset Abbey) last week, I started this book and finished this book in ONE sitting! I was just SO taken by it! I think any daughter will inheritently like the book, wondering at the truths of her own mother's youth, and what she, the daughter, has been told and not told. The things we keep from our kids to either protect them or to keep us from looking bad, is really a univeral theme.

As the story goes on the reader is torn like Meg, wanting to know the reason for the false stories and cheers for the changes that Meg goes through, while trying to seek the answer. During their time together ends and Meg learns more truths, she understands why her mother told them, and the protection and pleasant memories she wanted her to have.While not all gets explained at the end, the reader is as happy as Meg with with what has been learned, and happy for Meg being able to move on. This is a gorgeous tale, and one I highly recommend!


About the Author: Maria Goodin graduated from the University of Kent with a degree in French and English. After spending some time working in France, she trained as an English teacher and then as a counsellor. She has been volunteering her counselling skills with a national mental health charity  for a number of years. Her first novel, NUTMEG, is based on a short story of the same title which was winner of the 2007 Derby Short Story Competition. Maria lives in Hertfordshire with her husband, son and cat.


Disclosure / Disclaimer: I was sent this ebook, free of charge, from SourceBooks  via NetGalley,  for review purposes, on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told what to say about it.