“You could tell just by looking at her that she knew too much about the world. Something in her eyes – perhaps the depth and sheen of them, how they seemed to summon the world around her and refract it like an artifact window – aged her in a way that had nothing to do with years.”

I was hoping to read a soft, fluffy story full of friendship and old-fashion wisdom where a teenager and a 80-year old woman become friends and learn from each other. Instead I was thrown head first into a story about the darker sides of love. The friendship doesn’t come easily and is not the main focus of the story. In alternating chapters we get to know Lorca who would do anything to get her mother’s attention and Victoria, who is trying to cope with the death of her husband. Lorca’s self-harming behavior is described in a painfully realistic way. This is a book about loneliness and grief as much as it is a book about the celebration of food, family and life. Sharp as a knife, highly recommended.