Recipes for a Perfect Marriage (Paperback)

by Kate Kerrigan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
New York food writer, Tressa returns from honeymoon worried that she has married her impossibly handsome husband, Dan out of panic rather than love. In 1930s, Ireland her grandmother, Bernadine, has wed James, the quiet and unexciting local schoolteacher, after her family is unable to raise a dowry to allow her to marry her true love, Michael. On her own wedding day, Tressa is offered her grandmother's diaries and hidden in the pages finds unexpected comfort, learning - amongst the timeless recipes for jam, soda bread and rhubarb tart - of an age-old narrative about her grandparents, her mother, and ultimately herself. For, what she discovers is how to capture the perfect marriage. 'A hybrid of Anne Tyler, "Sex in the City" and the Avoca Cook Book, "Recipes" is grown-up and reflective...makes some excellent observations about the nature of love and happiness and how difficult it can be for a woman to adapt to marriage" - "Sunday Independent". "This book is one to keep. Anyone who reads it will return to it, time and time again." - "Ireland on Sunday".

About the Author
Kate Kerrigan is a full-time writer and lives in County Mayo with her family.

Product Details

• Paperback: 317 pages
• Publisher: Tivoli (January 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0717139808
• ISBN-13: 978-0717139804
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,054,735 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A warm and wise novel, with deep insight into love, September 19, 2005

By	Vincent Deveau "vdeveau" (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Recipes for a Perfect Marriage (Hardcover)

In "Recipes for a Perfect Marriage" Kate Kerrigan transcends the genre of women's fiction, and has produced a novel for everyone - man or woman - who has ever loved only to hesitate on the brink of commitment, or to doubt a commitment already made.

In a tale spanning three generations, Kerrigan illuminates the differences and similarities in the roles of women and men in marriage, and in the way we view marriage itself, today and in our grandparents' generation. Along the way - in a captivating tale that is also a genuine page-turner - Kerrigan displays a unique insight into the highs and lows of romantic love, and the deeper and more complex rewards of committing oneself to another.

Read it, and ask your partner to read it, too.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars quaint, September 17, 2006

By	maria1971 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Recipes for a Perfect Marriage (Paperback)

An ode to marriage the "old-fashioned way", where loyalty and commitment and `realistic' love are so much more important than romance, passion, or being swept off one's feet.

Sweet and heartwarming and though very much about `the right thing to do' it just manages to escape becoming `preachy'.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous book!, August 18, 2005

By	S. Friedman "Jaguarita" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Recipes for a Perfect Marriage (Hardcover)

I picked this up on a trip to Dublin and was surprised at how good it was. It is similar to "Like Water for Chocolate" in that there is a recipe that introduces each chapter. The recipes reflect the relationships in the book. Somewhere in the chapter either the flavor, the difficulty of preparation, or something in the recipe will be important in the progression of the story line. This beautifully written story tells how on her wedding day, a young bride receives her grandmother's recipes and diaries. The bride, who thinks she has made a mistake in her choice of a husband, had always thought that her grandparents had a perfect marriage. Through reading her grandmother's diaries she discovers what a "perfect marriage" really is and how different it is from what we think we are looking for in a mate.