The Ingredients of Us

From debut author Jennifer Gold comes a delicious, award-winning novel about the sweet and sour ingredients of life and love.

Elle, an accomplished baker, has a recipe for every event in her life. But when she discovers her husband’s infidelity, she doesn’t know what to make of it. Jam, maybe? Definitely jam.

Fed up with the stale crumbs of her marriage, Elle revisits past recipes and the events that inspired them. A recipe for scones reminds her of her father’s death, cinnamon rolls signify the problematic courtship with her husband, and a batch of chocolate cookies casts Elle in a less-than-flattering light. Looking back, Elle soon realizes that some ingredients were missing all along.

After confronting her husband, Elle indulges her sweet tooth in other ways, including a rebound that just leaves her more confused. As secrets from the past collide with the conflicts of the present, Elle struggles to manage her bakery business and maintain the relationships most important to her. In piecing her life back together, will Elle learn to take the bitter with the sweet?

“The tension builds nicely…Readers will enjoy the heroine’s journey of self-discovery and the recipes for the lemon tarts, brownies, scones, chocolate Bundt cake, and other treats she bakes along the way.” Kirkus Reviews

The Ingredients of Us is a literary confection filled with multifaceted characters and a compelling story line. Gold’s bittersweet look at love will satisfy any contemporary women’s fiction reader’s sweet tooth.” Booklist

“Come for the story of a baker facing a crisis in her marriage. Stay for the recipes – lush, beautiful things, filled with life lessons. From that very first recipe for passive-aggressive blackberry jam, you know you’re in for something special.” —Erica Bauermeister, author of The School of Essential Ingredients