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A review by aksmith92
Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love by Kim Fay
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Cheers to a cute little palette cleanser (kinda?!).
The setup: The book opens with Joan Bergstrom sending fan mail to Imogen Fortier, a 59-year-old woman who writes a monthly column for Pacific Northwest magazine. Imogen lives on Camano Island in Washington outside of Seattle and has lovely things to say about the water, sunset, and oysters. Joan loves this, as she is an aspiring journalist, so she takes it upon herself to write a letter to Imogen with a bit of gift: saffron.
From there, Imogen and Joan begin a beautiful friendship—mainly through wonderful letters back and forth. The letters start in the year 1962, so in their beginning letters, as they get to know each other, we see them grapple with some women's issues, Kennedy's assassination, and the civil rights movement. As their friendship deepens, we see them writing secrets and tales they haven't told anyone. However, their letters mainly include recipes and other foods worth trying. Joan talks about Saffron, and Imogen talks about oysters. Joan takes an interest in local Mexican cuisine since she lives and works in Los Angeles, and she sends the recipes to Imogen for her to try. Imogen loves them all and even shares with Joan that her husband is interested in cooking because of the recipes (WILD for the early 1960s, am I right?!).
We walk through Joan and Imogen's few years together and see a lovely friendship form between two women you likely wouldn't have thought of: a 27-year-old city-loving woman and a 59-year-old columnist who loves her tiny island home.
What I loved: What a great premise! To write a book solely (well, 98%) in letter form was a great take. I'm sure it's been done before, but I haven't read anything like it. Somehow, even though it was just through letters, I felt the relationship and friendship between Joan and Imogen while still learning about them individually. It was fantastic to see the historical complexities of the time weaved in (although brief since this was a short-ish book) and how those impacted the two women. We watched them overcome various challenges, obstacles, and heartache. This was such a cute read, and I loved the recipes involved. Make sure to read the book's ending for a course meal to try! It simply was a feel-good story about an unconventional friendship.
What would have made it five stars? I think we missed some critical individual character development for Imogen. It felt like the story began to focus on Francis, her husband, which I could appreciate for the time, but I wanted more about her. I think we got that with Joan, but then Imogen became a little "parent-y" regarding Joan's life. It wasn't a big deal, but I walked away wanting more from Imogen's character. Thankfully, in the end, we got to read a column from the Pacific Northwest that Imogen wrote, which was nice! This takes place in the 1960s, so there was an element of historical context to this for sure, but I did find it a bit odd that two white women were constantly talking about Mexican food and food from other countries and then somehow profiting from it through their jobs. I wish that were fleshed out more to talk about that irony.
Regardless, this was a cute read, albeit the ending is sad.
The setup: The book opens with Joan Bergstrom sending fan mail to Imogen Fortier, a 59-year-old woman who writes a monthly column for Pacific Northwest magazine. Imogen lives on Camano Island in Washington outside of Seattle and has lovely things to say about the water, sunset, and oysters. Joan loves this, as she is an aspiring journalist, so she takes it upon herself to write a letter to Imogen with a bit of gift: saffron.
From there, Imogen and Joan begin a beautiful friendship—mainly through wonderful letters back and forth. The letters start in the year 1962, so in their beginning letters, as they get to know each other, we see them grapple with some women's issues, Kennedy's assassination, and the civil rights movement. As their friendship deepens, we see them writing secrets and tales they haven't told anyone. However, their letters mainly include recipes and other foods worth trying. Joan talks about Saffron, and Imogen talks about oysters. Joan takes an interest in local Mexican cuisine since she lives and works in Los Angeles, and she sends the recipes to Imogen for her to try. Imogen loves them all and even shares with Joan that her husband is interested in cooking because of the recipes (WILD for the early 1960s, am I right?!).
We walk through Joan and Imogen's few years together and see a lovely friendship form between two women you likely wouldn't have thought of: a 27-year-old city-loving woman and a 59-year-old columnist who loves her tiny island home.
What I loved: What a great premise! To write a book solely (well, 98%) in letter form was a great take. I'm sure it's been done before, but I haven't read anything like it. Somehow, even though it was just through letters, I felt the relationship and friendship between Joan and Imogen while still learning about them individually. It was fantastic to see the historical complexities of the time weaved in (although brief since this was a short-ish book) and how those impacted the two women. We watched them overcome various challenges, obstacles, and heartache. This was such a cute read, and I loved the recipes involved. Make sure to read the book's ending for a course meal to try! It simply was a feel-good story about an unconventional friendship.
What would have made it five stars? I think we missed some critical individual character development for Imogen. It felt like the story began to focus on Francis, her husband, which I could appreciate for the time, but I wanted more about her. I think we got that with Joan, but then Imogen became a little "parent-y" regarding Joan's life. It wasn't a big deal, but I walked away wanting more from Imogen's character. Thankfully, in the end, we got to read a column from the Pacific Northwest that Imogen wrote, which was nice! This takes place in the 1960s, so there was an element of historical context to this for sure, but I did find it a bit odd that two white women were constantly talking about Mexican food and food from other countries and then somehow profiting from it through their jobs. I wish that were fleshed out more to talk about that irony.
Regardless, this was a cute read, albeit the ending is sad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Abortion
Minor: Misogyny and Sexism
Abortion is not completed but implied/talked about.