The Cookbook Collector - Softcover

"If any contemporary author deserves to wear the mantle of Jane Austen, it's [Allegra] Goodman, whose subtle, astute social comedies perfectly capture the quirks of human nature. This dazzling novel . . . is Goodman's most robust, fully realized and trenchantly meaningful work yet."-"Publishers Weekly", Starred Review "Fans of Goodman's lovely, nuanced novels have a treat in store with this tale of two sisters."-"Entertainment Weekly" "Goodman is remarkably successful in creating rich, engaging characters and a complex story of love and identity.""-Library Journal", starred review

Two sisters, opposite in every way: twenty-eight-year-old Emily is a CFO of an internet start-up, twenty-three-year-old Jess is a graduate student in philosophy. Pragmatic Emily is making a fortune in Silicon Valley, romantic Jess works in an antiquarian bookstore. Emily's boyfriend is fantastically successful. Jess's boyfriend is an environmental activist. But the dot-com bubble must burst, while Jess's work on a cache of rare cookbooks uncovers strange erotic drawings and marginalia that bring her closer to their mysterious collector... Rich in ideas and characters, The Cookbook Collector is a novel of substitutions: reading cookbooks instead of cooking, speculating instead of creating, collecting instead of living. But above all it is about holding on to what is real in a virtual world: love that lasts.