The Recipe Box: A Novel (The Heirloom Novels)

"Filled with cherished memories and treasured recipes, The Recipe Box is a touching tribute to the women and food that unite us and connect our past to the present." —Richard Paul Evans, #1 New York Times bestselling author

In The Recipe Box, beloved author Viola Shipman spins a tale about a lost young woman and the family recipe box that changes her life.


Growing up in northern Michigan, Samantha “Sam” Mullins felt trapped on her family’s orchard and pie shop, so she left with dreams of making her own mark in the world. But life as an overworked, undervalued sous chef at a reality star’s New York bakery is not what Sam dreamed.

When the chef embarrasses Sam, she quits and returns home. Unemployed, single, and defeated, she spends a summer working on her family’s orchard cooking and baking alongside the women in her life—including her mother, Deana, and grandmother, Willo. One beloved, flour-flecked, ink-smeared recipe at a time, Sam begins to learn about and understand the women in her life, her family’s history, and her passion for food through their treasured recipe box.

As Sam discovers what matters most she opens her heart to a man she left behind, but who now might be the key to her happiness.

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Published Oct 29, 2019

336 pages

Average rating: 7.73

15 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

PackSunshine
Jan 05, 2025
10/10 stars
I read this book for a book club I'm in. At first, I just thought it was simplistic, sort of like a Hallmark movie, or Berenstain Bears where the book has to tell you the obvious. The writing really irked me. But I struggled through the predictable story because I do love my book club. Then something funny happened. The predictability and platitudes became comforting, like the fudge sauce that my dad made his own recipe for, based on the fudge recipe that my mom used, back when I was a kid, pounding at that fudge til it lost its shine and we turned it out on a small marble slab. I loved this book. It's like realizing that I take Michigan for granted at times, and I need to wake up every morning and watch the sun rise on the lake. Read it, and bloom where you're planted.

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