Dinner with Edward: The Story of an Unexpected Friendship

A memoir of food and friendship “combining the warm-heartedness of Tuesdays with Morrie with the sensual splendor of Julie and Julia” (Booklist, starred review).

Isabel Vincent first arrives at Edward’s New York apartment to check on him as a favor to his daughter. She has no idea that the nonagenarian baking a sublime roast chicken and a light-as-air apricot soufflé will end up changing her life. But their meeting comes at a moment of transition for each of them: Edward wants nothing more than to follow his late wife to the grave, while Isabel is watching her marriage unravel.

As Edward and Isabel meet weekly for the glorious dinners that Edward prepares, he shares so much more than his recipes for apple galette or the perfect martini, or even his tips for deboning poultry. Edward teaches Isabel the art of slowing down, taking the time to think through her own life—cutting it back to the bone and examining the guts, no matter how messy that proves to be.

Dinner with Edward is a book about love and nourishment, and about how dinner with a friend can, in the words of M. F. K. Fisher, “sustain us against the hungers of the world.”

“A rare, beautifully crafted memoir that leaves you exhilarated.” —Rosemary Sullivan, author of Stalin’s Daughter

“This is a memoir to treasure.” —Booklist (starred review)