The Sweetness of Forgetting

The Sweetness of Forgetting, described as "beautifully complex" by Woman's Day, is the classic novel that established Kristin Harmel as a superstar. It follows a woman who must journey from Cape Cod to Paris to uncover a family secret for her dying grandmother—a secret that could change everything. This 10th anniversary edition includes an updated author's note and recipes!

At thirty-six, Hope McKenna-Smith is no stranger to bad news. She lost her mother to cancer, her husband left her, and her bank account is nearly depleted. Her dreams of becoming a lawyer are long gone; instead, she is running a failing family bakery on Cape Cod and raising a troubled preteen.

Now, Hope's beloved French-born grandmother, Mamie, is drifting away in a haze of Alzheimer's. However, in a rare moment of clarity, Mamie realizes that unless she tells Hope about the past, the secrets she has held on to for so many years will soon be lost forever. Intriguingly, she reveals mysterious snippets of a tragic history in WWII Paris. Armed with a scrawled list of names, Hope travels to France to uncover a seventy-year-old mystery.

What follows is "an immersive and evocative tale of generations struggling to survive," according to Publishers Weekly. As Hope pieces together her grandmother's past, she uncovers horrific tales of the Holocaust and realizes the astonishing will of her grandmother to endure in a world gone mad. To reunite two lovers torn apart by terror, all she'll need is a dash of courage, and the belief that God exists everywhere, even in cake.

"Kristin Harmel is a powerful and dazzling voice in historical fiction." --Patti Callahan, New York Times bestselling author of Surviving Savannah