Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love

I received a free electronic ARC of this novel from Netgalley, Kim Fay, and G. P. Putman's Sons publisher. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this work of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of Love and Saffron. This is a book I thoroughly enjoyed and a pattern for us to follow to bring some serenity into our world. Our story begins with a letter written in October of 1962. Young Miss Joan Bergstrom in Los Angeles writes to praise the "Letters from the Island" column written by Mrs. Fortier, who lives and works in Lake Forest Park, Washington and spends weekends and holidays at the cabin on Camano Island, Washington that she shares with her husband. This correspondence opens a friendship that carries on over the years, as our correspondents share recipes and loves and heartbreaks via the USPS. In this frantically paced pandemic world, I found it encouraging, just the forgotten concept of corresponding with someone, letters carefully crafted and secrets shared instead of fast, pressured phone calls and quickly passed on messages on the cell phone. With every day that passes, we use the phone less and messaging services more. "Whr R U?" As a child I had pen pals - one in Copenhagen, one in Maryland USA that I corresponded with for years. I regret that I didn't encourage my children to find a pen pal with whom to share ideas and experiences. As wide open as our world of television and movies and the internet is, we have lost the habit of honestly sharing with others our life experiences. I am sorry for that. I sat down last night and wrote my only remaining Aunt, a lady who has lived all over the world and shared those experiences with her sisters and all her nieces. I can't remember the last time I actually sat down and wrote her, rather than just a quick quip on Facebook. But the most important thing I had forgotten over these letter-less years is the feeling of sharing things trivial and important with a loved one, writing down experiences and fine tuning the telling of tales. Thank you, Kim Fay, for giving me back the joy of communicating from the heart. And the Recipes! Thank you for the recipes!

This was a quick, gentle, slow and easy, relaxing, thoughtfully written, delightfully amusing, and engaging read that tapped all the feels in the best way possible. The writing was easy to fall into while poignant, historically accurate, and heart-squeezing. The writing was honest and truly moving while a supportive relationship was developing between two women through their pen and paper correspondence over food that spanned several years and only one face-to-face meeting. The women easily established a bond that allowed them to freely expose their innermost fears and bare themselves on paper as they could to no one else in their lives. Their words plumbed all the feels and put hot rocks in my throat and stung my eyes as well as lifted my spirits. Kim Fay has gifted us with a tasty treat and a delicious tale for all the senses.