This is a heartfelt story that includes faith, family, broken hearts, healing, forgiveness, love, home and the discovery of long-forgotten family recipes!
I found this to be a captivating story from the very beginning. Adult Nikki feels like a little girl again, crying on the inside for the return of her dad. He left her mother and his two daughters, 4 months earlier, and she just received from Hannah, her older sister, a picture of a post on social media of their dad with a woman neither of them had ever met, who is his new wife. Nikki’s relationship with her long-time boyfriend, Isaac is on shaky ground, and she is worried about her mother who has to sell their family home and move in with Hannah’s family, living in their basement.
The last day of school is near so Nikki, a teacher, asks for a personal day, gets in her car, and starts driving through downtown Kansas City, Missouri, leaving her small apartment behind. Soon she finds herself on the interstate driving through suburbs, following the interstate for hours, only stopping once for gas and a snack. That night she ends up at her uncle’s farm in another small corner of Missouri. Although he has a newer house on the property, the original family farmhouse is still there, empty. Nikki does not know the brother of her dad well, having only spent Christmas day at the family farm as a child, and after her Grandma Ann passed, they did not go back anymore, not even on Christmas.
Nikki ends up staying all summer, moving into the old farmhouse. She becomes part of the community, as well as the church family where her uncle attends. She helps him clean up and update the old farmhouse to prepare it to be a rental. An old book that had once belonged to her great grandmother full of handwritten German recipes, along with scriptures from Proverbs turns up and is an immediate treasure. As she is learning to cook by following the recipes and receiving help from Joyce, a woman who had grown up with her dad and uncle she also learns many things family members who came before her. With each new recipe they prepare, local people from the community are invited to share in the meal. Nikki learns that a serving of the delicious German streusel, along with a big dose of faith can heal wounds of the past and change lives.
This is a delightful, heartfelt story, with many references to scripture and the value of friendship and reaching out to others, as well as the healing forgiveness and second chances. The characters in this beautiful story are loveable and hard to forget.
I received a compliment copy of this book. All opinions and remarks are my own.