Recipe for a good life - lesley crewe

Globe & Mail bestselling Lesley Crewes new novel follows a mystery author with writers block from 1950s Montreal to rural Cape Breton, in search of much more than her next big story.

On paper, Kittys life is perfect.

She lives in Montreal, so vibrant in the 1950s; she married her childhood sweetheart, who happens to also be a handsome movie star; and her detective novels, written under a plausibly male nom de plume, are bestsellers.

But Kitty is suffocating under the truth of her life: Montreal feels chaotic and lonely without her mother, and with her father all but estranged.

Her husband is a glib Lothario.

And she never, ever wants to write another detective novel.

When she says as much to her publishers, they panic.

Shes their golden goose.

And so they convince her to go on a writing retreat to a beautiful remote island, Cape Breton, where with solitude and a luxurious change of scenery, shell be able to whip up her next book.

At least, that was the plan.

Kitty arrives in Cape Breton to a leaky, drafty shack and a cast of characters unlike anyone shes ever met.

Theres Edith, who listens in on everyones party line calls and never keeps good gossip to herself; generous Bertha and her enormous family.

and Berthas son, Wallace -- Walrus, to all his nieces and nephews.

A gentle giant who always has half a dozen children hanging off him.

Soon Kittys writing retreat turns her life upside down, and she has to face which parts of her life are non-negotiable and which she must cut loose.

Can she preserve what she loves in Montreal now that Cape Breton is calling? If she frees herself from the weight of her past, will she float away altogether? From Globe and Mail--bestselling author Lesley Crewe comes a story of loneliness and belonging, and a love letter to the women who have always kept the kettles warm and the neighbours fed in rural Cape Breton.