Simply from Scratch by Alicia Bessette

This Women’s Fiction novel was not a book that I plowed through, reading it in one sitting. I took the time to consider the differences and similarities in Zell’s mourning process and my own. Granted when we mourn, we all traverse each of the five stages of the mourning process. And believe it or not, we all travel at a different rate and often in a different order across the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

I enjoyed Zell’s “widow style,” wondering if I could pull off khaki green or if I would look like the loved one I mourned. I enjoyed the unexpected friendships Ms. Bessette introduced. (No, I won’t introduce them here.)

In Simply from Scratch, Zell seems to stay longer in a stage of depressed denial than I have. Mind you, Ms. Bassette’s writing is not depressing. It is carefully crafted to include just the right mixture of humor and warmth with a generous dose of hope. Take the time and travel with Zell. Find pleasure in the little things, for one day they might be gone. Of course it never hurts to hope.

If reading is your pleasure…if you have ever had a friendship that spanned the participant’s years of experience… if you have ever lost one you love… read and enjoy.

This novel does not contain gratuitous sex or violence—just a scrumptious recipe with a ‘pinch of love.’