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Title details for The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel - Wait list

The Sweetness of Forgetting

by Kristin Harmel
ebook
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Wait time: About 12 weeks
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0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 12 weeks
The "beautifully complex" (Woman's Day) classic that made Kristin Harmel a superstar follows a woman who must travel from Cape Cod to Paris to uncover a family secret for her dying grandmother that could change everything. Updated with a new author's note and recipes for this 10th anniversary edition!
At thirty-six, Hope McKenna-Smith is no stranger to bad news. She lost her mother to cancer, her husband left her, and her bank account is nearly depleted. Her own dreams of becoming a lawyer long gone, she's running a failing family bakery on Cape Cod and raising a troubled preteen.

Now, Hope's beloved French-born grandmother Mamie is drifting away in a haze of Alzheimer's. But in a rare moment of clarity, Mamie realizes that unless she tells Hope about the past, the secrets she has held on to for so many years will soon be lost forever. Tantalizingly, she reveals mysterious snippets of a tragic history in WWII Paris. Armed with a scrawled list of names, Hope heads to France to uncover a seventy-year-old mystery.

What follows is "an immersive and evocative tale of generations struggling to survive" (Publishers Weekly) as Hope pieces together her grandmother's past bit by bit. Uncovering horrific tales of the Holocaust, she realizes the astonishing will of her grandmother to endure in a world gone mad. And to reunite two lovers torn apart by terror, all she'll need is a dash of courage, and the belief that God exists everywhere, even in cake.

"Kristin Harmel is a powerful and dazzling voice in historical fiction." —Patti Callahan, New York Times bestselling author of Surviving Savannah

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 7, 2012

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781451644319

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781451644319
      • File size: 9657 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 11, 2012
      Hope McKenna-Smith struggles to run the family bakery on Cape Cod while coping with a recent divorce; a churlish preteen daughter named Annie; and a grandmother, Rose, who is quickly succumbing to Alzheimer’s. During one of Hope’s visits, Rose—in a rare and desperate moment of lucidity—gives Hope a list of seven relatives whom Rose last saw in WWII-era France, and begs her to track them down so she might know their fates. Urged along by Annie, Hope abandons the bakery and jets to Paris. There she unearths family secrets buried for decades, and while Rose’s memory fades away, Hope comes face to face with the people and places of her grandmother’s past—one of fear, world war, and a clandestine, far-reaching love. Despite hackneyed dialogue (Annie uses “like” in nearly every sentence) and the challenge of working in well-trod territory, Harmel (After) manages to deliver an immersive and evocative tale of generations struggling to survive. Recipes sprinkled throughout the book allow readers to experience firsthand the sweetness of Hope’s journey. Agent: Holly Root, Waxman Literary.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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