Ella’s Secret Family Recipes
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley October 26, 2016
Author Kat Bell
Distributor: Kay Bell
ISBN: 978-0-9942651-3-5
Publisher: Campanile Publishing
Release Date: August 2016
Website: http:/www.kaybell.com.au
Upon mama’s deathKat Bower is a young woman living the dream, at least her dream, married to a wonderful supportive man, no children, a work at home career she loves and a nice house in a great suburb. What more could you possibly want other than a bit more money coming in to allow Kat and her husband Paul to travel to exotic places.
She gets a call from her brother Chris letting her know their mother was in hospital in a coma after suffering a fall at home. All of a sudden the structure of her life begins to change with Kat having to confront the very real situation of what comes next.
She is the daughter of Greek and Australian parentage and she, Kat, has spent most of her life trying to avoid being Greek! But it looks like things are going to get very Greek indeed should Mama die.
Upon Mama’s death, Kat is gifted the legacy of what is a very, very old recipe book, along with an even older, ornate key tied to the book with string, which is strange gift to give someone who goes out of her way not to cook.
It is not until she decides to make one of the recipes for a friends babies christening, she discovers there is more to the book than anyone could ever have imagined.
Each of the recipes in the book introduces Kat to one of her grandmothers, some of whom have been dead for more than 100 years, making Kat begin to wonder if the mental health issues her mother had to cope with are hereditary.
Through the medium of her grandmothers speaking with her, Kat slowly begins to understand her heritage and how it has shifted and changed with the passage of time, the social influences and the need to move to another country, another life, to once and yet again, reinvent the family background in order to survive.
In this wonderfully entertaining look at coming of age, even at 40, we are treated to an insightful view of growing up in a family where mental health issues have caused discord and discomfort, the coming to terms with friendship, other worldly matters and the love of a good man who, over the years has absorbed his beloved wife’s quirks and foibles, as she gradually comes to terms with her heritage.
Based loosely on the ‘Who Do You think You Are’ scenario this is total entertainment, coupled with a look back at history through the eyes of the women who make up the basis of Kats ‘Greek’ family, that turns out to be not so Greek after-all!