The Summer Kitchen by Lisa Wingate – Book Review

2018 Copyright 388 Pages

Sandra Darden has many concerns about her family; her husband and son barely communicate with each other anymore and her adopted son is missing. She recently inherited her late uncle’s little house where she has fond memories growing up. To avoid her many life’s worries, she throws herself into cleaning and repairing the little house for sale.

The little house her uncle built was in a quiet family-oriented neighborhood. Due to the economic hardships in recent years the neighborhood has changed drastically. Rundown homes and buildings with those struggling financially are now what you see. Some of her friends from the upper-class neighborhood she lives in now would consider this area unsafe. However, Sandra continues to go every day to the little house. Sandra notices a young girl, Cass Salley, wondering the streets nearby. She is just one of many young children living in the area.

Cass and her older brother have run away from their home after their mother’s funeral to avoid being placed in children’s protective services. They live in one of the rundown apartments in the area and make do on what her brother earns at manual labor jobs he finds. Although her brother pretends to be older and wiser at seventeen, he still finds himself in some hotspots which worries Cass.

Sandra begins sharing her lunch with Cass, and they form a bond, and through Cass, Sandra meets other people in the community. Sharing her lunch becomes more significant as The Summer Kitchen neighborhood project is born. The book is filled with inspirational quotes and stories of good deeds accomplished, the people of the community and how their lives, and Sandra’s, are changed by The Summer Kitchen. An easy read which will make you feel good inside.