Cora's Kitchen
Book Feature - Cora's Kitchen by Kimberly Garrett Brown
HBL Note: Cora’s Kitchen is from debut novelist Kimberly Garrett Brown, a former English professor at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois (not far from Chicago!) and the founder of an independent women’s literary press called Minerva Rising. Cora’s Kitchen was a finalist in the 2016 Louise Meriwether First Book Prize as well as the 2018 William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition.
CORA’S KITCHEN follows Cora James, who dreams of being a writer but whose day job is holding her back. And gosh, isn’t that the story of most aspiring authors? They have this dream of becoming an author but life gets in the way - there just isn’t time or something more pressing or too many rejections or whatnot. I’ve heard over and over again that the difference between a published author and an unpublished one is persistence. Scroll down to read more about Cora James’ story as she pursues her dreams.
Book Feature - Cora's Kitchen by Kimberly Garrett Brown
Book Feature - Cora's Kitchen by Kimberly Garrett Brown
From the publisher:
Cora James wants to be an author, but with a full-time job at Harlem’s 135th Street library and a family to care for, her dreams quickly become buried. Langston Hughes is one of her library patrons, and one day she writes him a letter, asking for advice on craft. He encourages Cora to give her dreams a chance. Yet even then she is stymied, forced to take a leave of absence from her job to cover for her cousin, who temporarily can’t work as a cook for a rich white family uptown. Cora doesn’t expect to become friends with Eleanor, the lady of the house, but they are soon linked together by good intentions, bad luck, and their shared, steadfast belief that their individual dreams should matter. Set in 1928, this moving and powerful epistolary novel examines race and gender issues in early twentieth century America, the role of artists, the powerful pull of family, and the importance of women’s friendships.
Book Feature - Cora's Kitchen by Kimberly Garrett Brown
