Book Review: Trail of Crumbs

Trail of Crumbs: hunger, love, and the search for home, by Kim Sunee was a surprise. Usually books with recipies turn me off - I find recipies difficult to read because I can't visualise what the dish will look like, let alone taste like (this is my issue, of course) and they seem random and often get in the way of the story. But Sunee has weaved the recipies into the story. They are at the end of all but the most traumatic (for her) chapters and were so much a part of the story that I read them with delight, often almost able to taste the dish. Often the recipies are the dishes she has served during the chapter and range from fancy french, simple Korean to lazy pasta and intricate southern dishes.

Once I got over this issue - by the first chapter's recipie of 'wild peaches poached in lillet blanc and lemon verbena' - I fell into her story easily. Born in Korea and left by her mother in a marketplace at three, then adopted to an American family, she grew up in New Orleans, learning to cook from her grandfather. Unable to feel she belonged anywhere she drifted around Europe until, at 25, she met and fell in love with Olivier - the founder of L'Occitane - and became responsible for his house in Provence, including the gardens and, especially, the kitchen, and for entertaining his wide circle of friends while juggling the demands of his young daughter. As she comes to the realisation that she doesn't belong in that world either, she struggles to escape and find her own place.

Kim Sunee examines the dishes she serves as closely as the emotions she can't control and the links between them are palpable. Her long journey back to herself is haunting - some of the book seems to swim past in waves of emotion - but ultimately there is a sense of hope that she may yet find her home.

This is a lovely book, I read it in a weekend and would recommend it to anyone who is aware they are searching for something that is missing - Kim's story is incredible and uplifting and on occassion horrifying.