Rowena’s review of The Book of Peach by Penelope Stokes.
Twenty-three years ago, beauty queen Peach Rondell left Mississippi and vowed never to return. Now she’s back, divorced and heartbroken, trying to figure out how her life went so terribly wrong. To escape her mama’s scrutinizing gaze, she spends her days in a little storefront diner called the Heartbreak Cafe, where, in the back booth, she scribbles away in her journal, waiting for enlightenment. Instead, Peach gets something even better: the unexpected friendship of an unlikely group of folks who show Peach that finding out where you’re going usually means embracing where you’re from.
It’s been quite a long while since I’ve read a women’s fiction book, not having been in the mood for one but for the past little while, I’ve been itching to read one and when Holly sent this along, I dug right in. This book is about Peach Rondell. Her husband left her for someone younger and she has no idea what she’s going to do with the rest of her life. Her psychiatrist thought it would be a great idea for Peach to go back home and try to figure out where her life went wrong.
Peach isn’t too thrilled about returning home, since she vowed never to return but sometimes in order to move forward, you have to go back. So Peach returns home to stay with her mother for a little bit.
Getting to know Peach through her journal entries and through her interactions with her Mom made for an interesting read. I was expecting a lighthearted story but instead was gifted with one of those deep reads that as you turn the pages, you appreciate more and more. I was rooting for Peach, I thought she was a great character and I liked how everything came together for her, just the way she needed it to.
Stokes did a wonderful job of keeping me interested in the goings on around Peach. The way she introduced Peach’s grandmother, showing us the difference between Gigi and Peach’s Mom and helping us understand why Peach feels the way that she does about them had me nodding my head as I read along.
As great as I thought this book was, it was a little slow to start for me. I understand that there were things that I needed to know and introductions to be made but it took me a while to get past that beginning hump and I’m finding that I love to be thrown into the mix right from the jump but after you get past that hump, you’ll fall into a well written novel about a woman who needs to find herself again. When she’s at the Heartbreak Cafe and you meet the group of people over there, you’ll fall a little more in love with this book.
I’m glad that I read this book, it was the perfect book to slow me down some. I’ve been going through so many things in the last few months with weddings and what not and my reading has slumped from time to time but this book sort of eased me right back into things and I liked it.
Grade: 3.5 out of 5
This book is available from Berkley Trade. You can buy it here or here in e-format.