What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Simmer and Smoke: A Southern Tale of Grit and Spice, published June, 2015.
What’s the book’s first line?
“In the cemetery tucked behind First Baptist Bible, next to the broadleaf tobacco patch twelve miles south of town, scrawled-out writing on a buckled, tin sign reads: “NO BURIALS WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION”. Those words piss off Mama—dead men don’t need no rules—but she obliged.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Two women from dramatically different backgrounds find their lives and ambitions intersecting as they try to find success in the culinary world. As their lives unravel down a path beyond the kitchen, the women realize what’s really worth fighting for.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
One December afternoon in 2010, I was visiting my ancestral graveyard in Stewartville, Alabama. As I watched a young woman and child wander down the road, I wondered how a young mother could escape a town of poverty and crack houses. That evening I wrote the page of Simmer and Smoke.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
I write to escape my despair about the state of humanity, but also as a way to get to this pain and pull myself out––to find hope, joy and laughter. My greatest desire is that my words will transport the people who read my book to this same place.