Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown (#20 in 2020)
When Alice, a modern-day woman, moves into a suburban house with her husband, she isn't sure what to make of being a housewife. After leaving her job as a publicist, Alice is now an aspiring writer as she searches high and low for inspiration to cure her writer's block. When Alice finds an old cookbook belonging to the previous home's owner, and when she realizes that the cookbook is filled with scribbled notes and unsent letters, Alice begins to learn more about the woman of the past. As Alice reads through Nellie's 1950s perspective, she uncovers some dark truths and begins to reevaluate her own life and choices.
Recipe for this book:
1/4 cup - aspiring-writer Stephanie from A Simple Favor by Darcy Bell
1/4 cup - drool-worthy-food-descriptions (e.g. from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert)
1/4 cup - unsure-about-her-future Emira from Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
1/4 cup - portraying-a-perfect-life-while-hiding-marriage-troubles Liza from Lies She Told by Cate Holahan
a dash - the ever-wiser-and-older Evelyn Hugo
Alice's exploration of what constitutes a "perfect wife" was both thought-provoking and eye-opening as I got a dual glimpse into life then and life now. It honestly made me question the different sin the culture between the past and the present, looking at things from both angles.
I loved the concept of integrating the "recipe" theme throughout the store. Throughout the book, there are popular 1950s recipes that would have come from Nellie's cookbook, and these recipes help to establish a timeline for both Nellie's story as well as Alice's. 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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