The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman

Sam grew up on her family’s destination orchard in northern Michigan but always dreamed of moving to New York City to be a pastry chef. She is working as a sous chef for a reality star “chef” in his NYC bakery when she quits and returns to Michigan to figure out where she wants to be.

As Sam reassess her life, she bakes alongside her grandmother and mother as they work through recipes from the family’s heirloom recipe box. The family recipes are not the complex pastries she learned in her culinary training, but she learns the value of the history of these pastries and the connection they give her to the women who came before her. She is left to decide where she wants to make her mark on the world – New York City or her family orchard.

This is such a sweet (pardon the pun!) story of family, love in many forms and roots (another pun! I can’t help it!). I loved the glimpses of women in Sam’s family tree that came in chapters throughout the book. The orchard and lake made for a beautiful setting and I longed to be there with Sam on a summer day. The recipes throughout the book also sounded delectable! I think I will be making the Rhubarb Sour Cream Coffee Cake soon! It sounds like the perfect spring treat.

I highly recommend this light and lovely family story. It makes a perfect read on a summer, or summer-like, day!

Check out The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman at the Library (https://catalog.lclibs.org/polaris/search/title.aspx…).