Book #88: Lizzy and Jane by Katherine Reay

After reading Dear Mr. Knightley by Reay a few months ago, I knew I wanted to read her most recent novel, Lizzy and Jane. I loved how Dear Mr. Knightley incorporated tons of classical lit references and how much the Austen books really influenced the characters, but how the book wasn't an Austen fan fiction or rewrite but its own story all completely original. Lizzy and Jane promised the same charms--an obvious, direct reference to P&P in the title, but about a different set of sisters, set in contemporary times and dealing with a whole different set of challenges than the Bennet Lizzy and Jane. Instead of worrying about getting married to rich men, the modern Lizzy and Jane are dealing with Jane's cancer diagnosis and their own decades-long estrangement since their own mother's death from cancer. Lizzy is struggling with keeping her fancy NYC restaurant open with her recent lack of creativity as a chef, and decides to take a few weeks to visit her home and her sister to see if she can do anything to help while Jane undergoes chemotherapy, despite the fact that they've hardly talked for years and whenever they have their conversations have been filled with anger and blame about how they've each let each other down in the past. The weeks that Lizzy spends with Jane are life-changing and go a long way to mending their relationship--with a lot of Austen thrown in to make the transition smoother. And don't forget there's some romance too--but it definitely felt secondary to the family relationships (which I liked).

I really liked how this book was so honest and realistic about the difficulty of repairing those broken relationships even when both sides are willing and hoping to. Lizzy and Jane are both wary of opening up to each other, and uncomfortable being with each other at the beginning, but even after they have a few really good talks, it's not like they're all of a sudden perfect with each other. There are a lot of fallbacks and hurdles that they have to overcome together. But I think the best small part of this story was about how Lizzy used her specific talents--those of a chef--to serve her sister and some of the other chemotherapy patients at the hospital with her. She worked and tweaked and developed recipes that would tempt her sister's sick stomach and really tried to show her love through the work she put into her cooking. It was fascinating to read about her thought process through cooking and how she came up with ideas for foods. And I loved, loved how she came up with inspiration for foods from the books she read and loved--Regency foods from Austen, like shepherd's pie, or plain roast chicken from Hemingway. I loved how she focused so much on the food references in these books, ones that I can't remember or even notice.