From Wanda Taylor, a delicious new novel about food, friendship and the power of poetry. For fans of Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan’s A Place at the Table and Jessica Kim’s Stand Up, Yumi Chung!
When Darla Cooper finds her grandmother’s old recipe book in the attic, it is as if her grandmother is speaking to her from beyond the grave. Food is memory. And no one knows this foodie truth better than Darla and her friends.
United by a love of food and a passion for words, Darla and the Food Poets meet at Carol’s Café every week. There they exchange poetry inspired by community and cookery and share these poems with Carol’s customers. As the group drifts through lazy summer days, sharing poem after poem, Darla notes in her grandmother’s book how food brings people together and lights up her imagination. Be it a baby shower, a long-awaited reunion or a wedding, Darla never fails to write down her thoughts alongside her grandmother’s words.
But when Darla loses her grandmother’s book at a food festival, everything seems to fall apart. Darla feels stuck, unable to perform her words as she once did. Was the book the real key to her poetry? And now, worst of all, it seems that Carol’s Café might be headed for a permanent closure. Despite their own troubles, the Food Poets must scramble to find the right words, make the grown-ups listen and save the café!