Simple Recipes: Stories

Longing, familiarity, and hope suffuse these stories as they mine the charged territory of relationships—subtly weaving in conflicts between generations and cultures. Madeleine Thien’s characters in some way want to make amends, to understand the events that have shaped their lives. A young woman searches back in time for the pivotal moment when her family lost faith in itself. Two sisters keep a vigil outside their former house, hoping their long-absent mother will appear one last time. A wife helps her husband grieve for the woman he has loved since childhood. A daughter remembers the simple ritual she once shared with her father and the moment when her unconditional love for him was called into question.

Compassionate and revealing, delicate and wise, the stories in Simple Recipes chart the uneven progress of love and lay bare the heartbreaking truths at the cores of our closest bonds.