In this affecting and "rewarding" epistolary novel, two unlikely divorcés -- a romantic pessimist and a newfound bachelor -- get a second chance at love (New York Times Book Review).
When Eve Petworth writes to Jackson Cooper to praise a scene in one of his books, they discover a mutual love of cookery and food. Their friendship blossoms against the backdrop of Jackson's colorful, but ultimately unsatisfying, love life and Eve's tense relationship with her soon-to-be married daughter.
As each of them offers, from behind the veils of semi-anonymity and distance, wise and increasingly affectionate counsel to the other, they both begin to confront their problems and plan a celebratory meeting in Paris -- a meeting that Eve fears can never happen.
Publishers Weekly,McKinlay's latest (after 2011's The View From Here) finds a bestselling American novelist connecting with one of his British fans as he nears his 50th birthday and she anticipates her daughter's wedding. Jackson Cooper, who fancies himself a man's man, lashes out at the women around him after his wife leaves him for a woman. He's suffering from writer's block and the feeling that he hasn't penned anything important. Jack has turned his creative impulses toward cooking, but the beautiful, well-meaning vegetarian he's dating doesn't appreciate any of it. He shares his love of food with Eve Petworth, whose mean late mother, Virginia, still casts a shadow over her life in the form of Eve's brash daughter Izzy, whom Virginia raised. When an engaged-to-be-married Izzy contacts her estranged father Simon, it exacerbates Eve's anxiety disorder. Both Eve and Jack are idle and rich, as evidenced by their free time and many mentions of their maids cleaning up in the background. They romanticize one another and claim that their meager letters and recipe exchanges serve as stress relief. Jack tries to get Eve to meet him in Paris every now and then, but unbeknownst to him, her condition prevents it. Readers will appreciate the way McKinlay captures emotional truths, but the puerility of her protagonists often hinders enjoyment. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
