A New York Secret
In 1942, debutante Lily Rose is a sous-chef at Valentino’s, an upscale restaurant in New York, which has weathered the Depression and WWI. As America enters the war, male staff are lost to conscription, and the restauranteur/owner is forced to take on women to replace them, Lily’s simultaneous promotion to head chef causing some resentment from the older pro-Mussolini Italians. Her love of cooking above everything in life is anathema to her mother, whose attempts to force Lily to marry a wealthy bachelor are irksome. If mother gets wind that a man at Valentino’s has caught Lily’s eye, there’ll be hell to pay, so Lily is circumspect with her affections. As she opens herself up to the possibility of love for her fellow chef, Tom, he’s suddenly conscripted and disappears in Sicily. Time wears on with no word, and Lily must bury her grief and, in light of the food shortages, become more inventive and bolder with her dishes.
This is WWII as experienced from the other side of the Atlantic, the safe side, one might say, but the deprivations of war are still there. Characters come alive on the page, and the camaraderie in the kitchen is a pleasure to read. Then there’s the mouth-watering food which weaves its way through, and which transforms, as time progresses, into inspired wartime recipes. The scenes in the Victory Gardens, and feeding hotdogs to the outgoing troops at port of embarkment, are heartfelt. This is about unexpected friendships and trust, teamwork, appreciating what you have in the moment, and pushing through difficult times. As the women make way for the returning men, Carey has laid the foundation for an interesting sequel, hopefully delving into the difficulties created by the end of the war for entrepreneurial working women. A scrumptious treat.
