Why Join?

  • Add New Books

  • Write a Review

  • Backpack Reading Lists

  • Monthly Newsletter

Join Now

Dinner with Edward

Author(s): Isabel Vincent

Location(s): Manhattan, Roosevelt Island

Genre(s): Autobiography/Memoirs

Era(s): Earlier 2000s

Location

Content

A charming, tender and life-affirming memoir of a woman’s unlikely bond with a 93-year-old widower

With its delicious food, warm jazz, and stunning views of Manhattan, Edward’s home was a much-needed refuge for reporter Isabel Vincent. Her recently widowed ninety-something neighbour would prepare weekly meals for Isabel, dinners she would never prepare for herself – fresh oysters, juicy steak, sugar-dusted apple galette. But over long, dark evenings where they both grieved for their very different lost marriages, Isabel realised she was being offered a gift greater than good wine and perfect lamb chops.

As they progressed from meals à deux to full dinner parties with an eclectic New York crowd, she saw that Edward was showing her how to rediscover the joy of life and turn hers around: how even a shared bowl of chowder could transform loneliness and anxiety into friendship, freedom, and a pure, simple pleasure Isabel had not known she could find again.

Both moving and uplifting, Dinner with Edward raises a glass to the power of simple pleasures and the surprising connections formed in times of hardship.

Review this Book

To review this book, please

Log in

Book Reviews

Lead Review

Author: Tina Hartas

It’s lovely, isn’t it, when an unexpected book crosses your path and it turns out to be a short but delicious mix of friendship, serendipity, New York and food and still so much more....

Read review