The Lost Art of Mixing

Lillian, chef/owner of a small restaurant, is at the core of a diverse group of customers, employees, and cooking students, each of whom is dealing with endings and beginnings. Narrator Cassandra Campbell's soothing voice sets the mood for this novel told from multiple points of view. While maintaining a consistent tonal quality throughout, Campbell changes her expressive interpretation to fit the personalities and thoughts of each main character. She's convincing when portraying the young adults, both male and female, and is especially impressive in conveying the worsening dementia of one of the older women. Listeners will be fully invested in this story about chosen families and friendships spiced with evocative descriptions of the tastes and smells of good food. C.B.L. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

November 19, 2012
In her sequel to The School of Essential Ingredients, Bauermeister picks up the threads of many of the characters first brought together in Lillian’s cooking classes, adding a few new stories to the mix. Here we follow Al, the restaurant’s accountant, soothed by numbers and flavors but unable to connect with Louise, his wife of 29 years; Chloe, the young sous-chef made timid by a failed relationship; Isabelle, the elderly woman with whom Chloe lives, struggling against the onset of Alzheimer’s; and Finnegan, the impossibly tall dishwasher taking his first stab at independence. Lillian remains a sort of mythic background figure, although her unexpected pregnancy tests her and the touchy relationship she’s having with Tom, a widower. Bauermeister weaves these individual stories in and among one another, but never stays with one character long enough for the reader to grow very attached, robbing each of depth. Still, Bauermeister’s prose is strong, particularly when it comes to food, and her novel brings to life the adage “be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.” Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House.