The Sweetness of Forgetting: A Book Club Recommendation!

By Kristin Harmel

Book Overview

The "beautifully complex" (Woman's Day) classic that made Kristin Harmel a superstar follows a woman who must travel from Cape Cod to Paris to uncover a family secret for her dying grandmother that could change everything. Updated with a new author's note and recipes for this 10th anniversary edition

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 own dreams of becoming a lawyer long gone, she's 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. But 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. Tantalizingly, she reveals mysterious snippets of a tragic history in WWII Paris. Armed with a scrawled list of names, Hope heads to France to uncover a seventy-year-old mystery.

What follows is "an immersive and evocative tale of generations struggling to survive" (Publishers Weekly) as Hope pieces together her grandmother's past bit by bit. Uncovering horrific tales of the Holocaust, she realizes the astonishing will of her grandmother to endure in a world gone mad. And 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

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1982198435
• ISBN13: 9781982198435
• Release Date: October 2022
• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Journey of Love

This is a Women's Fiction/Historical Fiction. Most of this book is told in the present time, but there are flashbacks to 1940's. This book is mostly about a Granddaughter and Great Granddaughter trying to find out their Grandmother's past. The Grandmother has Old Timers, and she cannot remember things most of the time. This book takes you on a journey that will touch your heart, but it also shows you that even though WWII took place a long time ago the effects of it still take place today. I loved this book so much, and I love that this book really shows there are different types of love in this world. The ending of this book was just so heart felt, and I loved it so much. This was a great read with wonderful characters.