The people who live in a community, regardless of its size, determine whether it’s a disparate, cold place, or an inviting, close-knit one. Small towns aren’t always as hospitable and caring as Wippamunk. The people of Rutland seem rooted and connected both to the land and to each other, much more so than other places I’ve lived. I got to know Rutland while covering it for a small newspaper where I was a reporter.

In personality, Wippamunk is similar to Rutland, Massachusetts, Holden’s neighbor to the north. So Wippamunk shares many physical characteristics with the real-life Holden. Did you base Wippamunk on a town you know or was it more of an ideal?ĪB: As I was writing Simply From Scratch, I sometimes closed my eyes to picture Wippamunk and saw the town of Holden, Massachusetts, where I grew up. It’s not only the setting for your book, but it is the place that roots many of your characters and holds them together. The community of Wippamunk plays an important role in Simply from Scratch. When I visited them I got a small sense for what it was like being a Townie. TMF: In many ways the setting of Simply from Scratch, Wippamunk, MA, reminds me of the small Vermont town where a good friend of mine lived and worked with his father back in the late 80s. She agreed and was extremely gracious with her answers to my get-inside-the-writer's-head questions. I emailed Alicia and asked her if she would be willing to answer some questions to accompany this contest for her book. I was in NOLA about a year after Katrina hit and was amazed by the devastation that was still there) (I think the many references to New Orleans, where David died during a community rebuilding trip, was a part of it, too.

I read Simply from Scratch over two days, drawn in by the depth of the characters, their relationships and the quirky way the story worked in a baking contest. Along the way she befriends her nine-year-old neighbor, Ingrid, who convinces her to enter a baking contest with the hopes of meeting TV celebrity chef Polly Pinch, the woman Ingrid fiercely believes is her mother. Simply from Scratch tells the story of Zell, and her path towards giving her life meaning after the death of her husband, David - a death that has affected all of Zell and David's life-long friends in different ways. I'm keeping the copy Alicia signed to me, however I'm happy to pass along the other copy to one of you. While I didn't win a copy of Therese's book, I did win two autographed copies of Alicia Bessette's new novel, Simply from Scratch. Several week ago I entered a contest of Facebook that Therese Walsh offered in support of her new (Target Breakout book) The Last Will of Moira Leahy: A Novel.

Simply from Scratch by Alicia Bessette