It sounds more like Swamp Thing's cute sidekick than a delicious pastry.īut in the novel Simply from Scratch by Alicia Bessette, which I recently had the opportunity to preview in review copy form (it comes out later on in the summer) it's the unexpectedly delicious dessert-made with an unlikely series of ingredients including pineapple, goat cheese, and chocolate, all baked in a pastry crust- that represents sweet salvation for a character who is struggling with the tragic death of her husband.ĭave TavaniSo how is the book, anyway? I found it to be a thoroughly engaging novel. There are no action sequences, no violence, almost no profanity, and no sex - just a good story told simply and honestly.Photos by Dave TavaniScrumpy Delight is, truly, a terrible name for a dessert. I also got mildly annoyed with Zell’s pirate talk to her dog and when she was alone, but that was minor. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Simply From Scratch although I thought a few of the plot twists were a little too convenient. We rejoice for her as she slowly evolves and heals.

Zell is also completely lovable with all of her foibles and human-ness. Gradually, we are told how Zell’s husband died, but by then we know him and like him very much from his emails and can empathize with the devastation that his family and friends felt in losing him. The story is told from three different points of view - in the first person by Zell, via emails sent from her husband while he was on an aid mission in New Orleans (where he died), and from a life-long friend’s viewpoint told in the third person. One afternoon she decides to bake and sets her kitchen on fire because her husband had left her a gift in the oven knowing she’d never find it there (he obviously did all of the cooking!)! As life is often funny even in the midst of tragedy, there is a lot of humor in the book. She lives in the small New England town where she and her husband grew up and has pretty much isolated herself since his death. Zell lost her husband in a freak accident about a year before the novel begins.

It also illustrates how sometimes the greatest source of healing comes from something or someone very unlikely - in this case a 9-year-old neighbor girl who is being raised by her father. Essentially, the book is about relationships, the power of love and friendship, the devastation of loss, and the slow process of healing and recovery from such a loss. I have enjoyed her music tremendously, so I was very anxious to read her prose. Although this is Alicia Bessette’s first novel, I have also written reviews of her other work - for her two piano CDs, “Reservoir” (2002) and “Orchard” (2008).