Includes bibliographical references.

A dual narrative in which a woman finds a cookbook buried in the basement of her new home and becomes captivated with the cookbook's previous owner, a 1950s housewife. Dissatisfied with her own life, she becomes absorbed in learning the story--and the secrets--of the last woman who lived in her house.

Alice Hale left a career in publicity to become a writer and follow her husband to the New York suburbs. Unaccustomed to filling her days alone in a big, empty house, she is captivated by a vintage cookbook found buried in a box in the old home's basement, and by the cookbook's previous owner. As Alice cooks her way through 1950s housewife Nellie Murdoch's past, she realizes that within the cookbook's pages are clues about Nellie's life-- including a unsent letters penned to her mother. Uncovering a more sinister side to Nellie's marriage, Alice begins to take control of her life-- and protect herself with a few secrets of her own. -- adapted from jacket