Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies : A Novel

The heartwarming story of two friends who, with the help of a 1950s cookbook, learn that food is for feasting, friends are for savoring, and the way to a man’s heart is irrelevant

Breakfast with a Hangover

Dinner for a Charming Stranger

Tea for a Crochety Aunt

When her life falls apart on the eve of her fortieth birthday, Kate Parker finds herself volunteering at the Lauderdale House for Exceptional Ladies. There she meets ninety-seven-year-old Cecily Finn. Cecily’s tongue is as sharp as her mind, but she’s fed up with pretty much everything. Having no patience with Kate’s choices, Cecily prescribes her a self-help book with a difference. Food for Thought: a charming 190s cookbook high on enthusiasm, featuring menus for anything life can through at the “easily dismayed.”

So begins an unlikely friendship between two lonely and stubborn souls—one at the end of her life, one stuck in the middle—who discover one big life lesson: never be ashamed to ask for more...