Comfort Food Hardback - 2008

by Kate Jacobs

In this smart, delicious novel by the bestselling authorof The Friday Night Knitting Club, a celebrity chefshows her friends and family the joy of fulfillment and manages to spice up her own life at the same time.

Shortly before turning the big 5-0, boisterous party plannerand Cooking with Gusto! personality Augusta 'Gus'Simpson finds herself planning a birthday party she'drather not her own. She's getting tired of being the hostess,the mother hen, the woman who has to plan her own birthdayparty. What she needs is time on her own with enough distanceto give her loved ones the ingredients to put together successfullives without her.

Assisted by a handsome up-and-coming chef, Oliver, Gusinvites a select group to take an on-air cooking class. But insteadof just preaching to the foodie masses, she will teach regularpeople how to make rich, sensuous meals real people makingreal food. Gus decides to bring a vibrant cast of friends and familyon the program: Sabrina, her fickle daughter; Troy, Sabrina'sex-husband; Anna, Gus's timid neighbor; and Carmen, Gus'spompous and beautiful competitor at the Cooking Channel. Andwhen she begins to have more than collegial feelings for hersous-chef, Gus realizes that she might be able to rejuvenate notjust her professional life, but her personal life as well. . . .