Just Jennifer

The Cookbook Collector Allegra Goodman (Dial Press, July 6, 2010)

What do the CEO of an upstart Dot-Com, an environmentalist who is a PhD candidate and an antiquarian book dealer have in common?  Not a whole lot, but in her sixth novel, Allegra Goodman ties them all together, weaving a plot that is complex and full of engaging characters we’d like to get to know better.  Emily has taken care of her younger sister (by five years) Jess since their mother died when they were young girls.  Emily is the CEO of a web-based data storage company (in 1999) and has her life carefully mapped out:  the company is about to go public, her boyfriend Jonathan, though he lives on the opposite coast, will be the perfect mate for her.  Jess on the other hand, lives day to day, engrossed in the world of philosophy.  She is involved in saving the California redwoods and works part time in an antiquarian bookshop for George, who is very much taken with Jess in spite of the differences in their ages.  The book takes a predictible turn when Emily engages in some bedroom talk with Jonathan and tells him what is next for her company.  As the lives the girls have set up for themselves begin to come apart, they get a chance to reexamine where they are, who they have become and who they truly want to be, and are they happier just reading the recipes in a cookbook or do they really want to start cooking and take a chance that things will turn out differently than the glossy pictures promise?