“The pickle today might have been a miscalculation…”
The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister
There are no villains here, just people, living their lives, making the mistakes we all make, and looking for love. All the action centers around Lillian’s restaurant, her sous-chef Chloe and dishwasher Finnegan, Lillian’s bereaved lover Tom, Lillian’s stuck-in-a-hopeless marriage accountant Al, Al’s angry wife Louise, and Chloe’s Alzheimer’s affected roommate Isabelle.
All Finnegan knew, and all he wanted to know, was that he was loved without question.
But no one here is, or not at first. Lillian and Isabelle and Chloe and Al are all children of divorce, Finnegan’s parents put him second fiddle to Mount Everest, and Louise is a thin stick of ironed-hair dynamite who keeps prodding Al to light her fuse. But Lillian always has her kitchen and the art and wonder and comfort of food.
[Lillian]…tried to fit the lunches to the financial season–more calming scents during tax preparation months, a little more exciting in the summer, when most clients were off on vacation, spending the money Al helped them save the rest of the year. The pickle today might have been a miscalculation, she thought a bit too much picnic atmosphere just when people should be working hard to meet that April deadline.
In the end, everyone gets what they want, with caveats, of course, because isn’t that how life is? A nice read.
Book Review Monday Chatter Erica Bauermeister The Lost Art of Mixing
