ASSEMBLE INGREDIENTS: Shelby Preston—a young, single mother trapped in a hardscrabble life in rural Georgia—escapes her reality as she fantasizes herself a respected chef in a kitchen of gleaming stainless steel and pans shimmering with heat. Mallory Lakes—an Atlanta newspaper food writer—may lose her job, and searches for her muse in a shot glass of illusion.
SIMMER: Mallory secures her job by crafting a zealous doppelgänger to satisfy the expectations of an illusive cyber audience. This also mollifies the memories of her lover who recently bolted; no warning. Shelby persuades her mother to take care of her daughter so she can pursue her dream of going to chef school in Atlanta. She cooks them a special dinner said to bring good luck; Lord knows her family could use a pot of something good.
SMOKE: Chasing desires and ambitions, the women’s lives unravel down a path beyond the kitchen, then weave together in an unsettling culinary landscape of organic farms and shadowy borders—some borders not meant to be crossed. As Mallory combats her demons with booze and pills, and Shelby battles the odds stacked against her for becoming a chef, the women discover what’s really worth fighting for.
Simmer and Smoke: A Southern Tale of Grit and Spice
Peggy Lampman
CreateSpace, 364 pages (paperback) $12.36, 9781508498841 (Reviewed: August 2015)
This contemporary novel of relationships brings together two very different Southern women who speak a common language through their love of food. (The book includes their recipes.)
Shelby Preston comes from a hardscrabble life in Coryville, Georgia, and is determined to move to Atlanta and become a chef. That means leaving behind her six-year-old daughter Miss Ann in the care of her “Mama,” a hairdresser who is setting up shop in the cellar of her “tin-roofed” home. Mallory Lakes is an upper crust Atlantan, who writes food blogs for an online newspaper. Their paths cross when Shelby gets a job at the upscale grocery store in Atlanta where Mallory shops. But it will take a near-fatal drunk driving accident and a near-tragedy with Miss Ann to bring the pair together in friendship as they discover what’s really important in life.
Peggy Lampman is an engaging writer, capturing the heart of Southern living with wit, charm and vivid detail as she alternates chapters between Shelby, Mallory and Miss Ann. When Shelby returns from Atlanta for a visit, for example, she sees Mama with new eyes. “Her peach skin tone is complemented by a lime shift, which hangs straight so her belly roll’s not noticeable. Her hair’s calmed down, too. Not as ratty and the color’s a subtle shade of auburn. But most of all, her smile comes easy, softened by old heartache and fresh hope.”
There are a few minor problems: an overuse of coincidences; a not-quite-believable love story (Mallory’s former boyfriend sees the error of his ways); and neat and tidy happy endings all round. But they don’t detract heavily from the enjoyable writing. And the recipes look delicious.
For readers who enjoy a Southern flavor to their stories, spending time in the company of these fine folks through the pages of Simmer and Smoke will go down as easily as a slice of watermelon on a hot summer’s day.
Also available as an ebook.
Growing up in a rural environment, Shelby Preston has had to struggle for everything. But her love for cooking does not stop her from dreaming of someday becoming a great chef. Shelby also carries the hope that she'll be able to provide a better life for her and Miss Ann, her young daughter. On the contrary, Mallory Lakes, who has had everthing handed to her on a silver platter, has a successful career as a food blogger for a popular newspaper, But behind her affluent persona, Mallory struggles with unresolved conflicts from her past. While neither women have crossed over into nor fully understand each other's world, Shelby and Mallory will meet at crossroads that will change their lives forever.
First time author and food blogger, Peggy Lampman, knows the exact ingredients needed to create an appealing story. Written in split narrative format, Lampman's debut novel features the lives of two women faced with challenges during changing yet turbulent times in Georgia. Alternating between Shelby and Mallory's narratives, Lampman's 2011 plot persistently balances opposites. Where there is hopelessness, there is always a ray of hope in some form or fashion. A prime example is how Lampman incorporates the warmth of food. A shared trait between the principal characters, Lampman closes most chapters with a commentary on various recipes that reflect Georgia cuisine.
Another opposite Lampman laces heavily throughout her storyline is dreaming for a better life amidst adversity. Why it is obviously understandable why Shelby seeks to improve her situation compared to her dead-end rural surroundings, it is difficult to imagine a person of wealth would need to dream of improvement. Period. But in creating Mallory, what Lampman does is strip away all of the posh and zero in on her humanness. That said, Mallory has dreams too. Included in the line of split narratives, though, is Miss Ann, who while only is mentioned a few times, plays a minor yet pivoting role. A determined second grader, Miss Ann has her own set of dreams in the works.
Yet in the midst of all of these characters, Lampman utilizes the above mentioned theme in connection with the plight of Mexican immigrants, who constantly fear deportation while working demeaning jobs for extremely little pay. To add insult to injury, Lampman also meticulously underscores the bigotry--the harsh realities of bigotry and prevalent in Georgian society and the legal system towards Mexicans. Undoubtedly, pondering this latter lifestyle leaves both cast members and readers to pause as they realize that their adversities pale in comparison.
Although Lampman's story concludes on a positive note with a slew of wonderful recipes, she sends a powerful reminder that bigotry is not dead and that the immigration system still has major problems. With a portion of the book's revenue going to the Southern Poverty Law Center--and American nonprofit legal advocacy organization--Simmer and Smoke is an eye-opening and thought-provoking must read.
SIMMER AND SMOKE receiveves 1st place award in Fiction Category in 2015 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards.
Second consecutive year Peggy Lampman has won the People's Choice for Best Food Blog.
IR Verdict: SIMMER AND SMOKE is a story full of the evocative, powerful influence of food, cooking, love, friendship and family on the human heart. - See more at: http://indiereader.com/2015/08/rich-and-thoughtful-simmer-and-smoke/#sthash.cSEbRxWw.dpuf
Two women from drastically different backgrounds find their lives and ambitions intersecting as they try to find success in the culinary world.
Shelby Preston is a single mother from rural Georgia, poor but surrounded by love in the form of her mother, aunt, and small daughter, Miss Ann. But her dreams of becoming a respected and successful chef drive her to leave Miss Ann in her mother’s care and move temporarily to Atlanta. There, she gets a job that pays for her cooking school, but leaves her feeling lonely and conflicted. Mallory Lakes is the daughter of a wealthy family, a food writer dealing with her lover’s departure by throwing herself into the development of an online persona. But her feelings of isolation aren’t so easily assuaged by celebrity status, especially when even her relationship with her best friend is threatened. Will it take a tragedy – or two – to get both women to figure out how to live their dreams without leaving their souls behind?
SIMMER AND SMOKE is a book full of flavor and substance worth savoring. The characters, particularly Shelby and Mallory, are well-drawn and three-dimensional, with roots, ambitions, motivations and personalities. Author Peggy Lampman mostly resists temptations towards stereotype and caricature, using first-person viewpoints to bring characters’ internal worlds vividly to life. Without preaching, she also draws thoughtful attention to conflicting and interacting viewpoints on food – food as a moral statement, food as family connection, food as emotional salve. She offers the perspectives of the food writer trying to appeal to a diverse and novelty-hungry audience increasingly concerned with the ethics – and social cachet – of local and organic food, of organic farmers working to build a sustainable life for themselves on cherished family land, and, not least, of the impoverished Shelby, who comments wryly: “The only people who can eat farm to table foods are rich folks like Mallory and most of her readers,” but also admitting that “On the other hand, it’s a good thing that there are people who can afford to pay the cost to keep honest farming and food traditions alive…” The story explores questions of class, family values, links to land and to other people, in a warm and embracing manner. The collection of recipes at the end is an added bonus, offering a variety ranging from fried green tomato BLTs to goat cheese panna cotta, with directions clear enough for even a novice cook.
SIMMER AND SMOKE is a story full of the evocative, powerful influence of food, cooking, love, friendship and family on the human heart.
~IndieReader.
- See more at: http://indiereader.com/2015/08/rich-and-thoughtful-simmer-and-smoke/#sthash.cSEbRxWw.dpuf
