Thursday, February 6, 2014

Jessica Soffer Stranded on a Desert Island

Please welcome Jessica Soffer, author of Tomorrow There Will be Apricots, as she braves our Desert Island Interview.

First, a bit about Jessica:


Jessica Soffer earned her MFA at Hunter College. Her work has appeared in Granta, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Vogue. She teaches fiction at Connecticut College and lives in New York. Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots is her first novel.

Connect with Jessica:
Website   Facebook   Twitter   Goodreads


Jessica Soffer Stranded on a Desert Island!

If you could only have one book with you, what would it be?

 The Worst Case Scenario Handbook. 

What one luxury item would you want to be stranded with? 

A fully-functioning and world-communicating iPad. 

What is the one practical item you would want to have with you to use?

My boyfriend, who they don't call MacGyver for nothing. 

Would you enjoy the solitude, even briefly, or would it drive you crazy?

If I could write and sleep and I wasn't cold, I'd love it. Cold is the worst for me: can't write or sleep or be happy in it. 

If you could be stranded with one other person, who would you want it to be?

Someone who could get me off the island. Am I cheating on every answer? 

What modern technology would you miss the most?

My Mini Cooper. She's my favorite thing. 

What food or beverage would you miss the most?

Tea with milk. I'm sounding very British! 

How many days do you think you would cope without rescue?

It all depends on the weather. And if there were avocados and coconuts on the trees. If so, you could just leave me there. The Omega-3s and good electrolytes would keep me happy. 

What is the first thing you would do when rescued?

Apologize. I'm always apologizing. 

What would be your first Tweet or Facebook update upon your return?

Sorry if you've been trying to contact me. And if I smell. 


Tomorrow There Will be Apricots


This is a story about accepting the people we love—the people we have to love and the people we choose to love, the families we’re given and the families we make. It’s the story of two women adrift in New York, a widow and an almost-orphan, each searching for someone she’s lost. It’s the story of how, even in moments of grief and darkness, there are joys waiting nearby.

Lorca spends her life poring over cookbooks, making croissants and chocolat chaud, seeking out rare ingredients, all to earn the love of her distracted chef of a mother, who is now packing her off to boarding school. In one last effort to prove herself indispensable, Lorca resolves to track down the recipe for her mother’s ideal meal, an obscure Middle Eastern dish called masgouf.

Victoria, grappling with her husband’s death, has been dreaming of the daughter they gave up forty years ago. An Iraqi Jewish immigrant who used to run a restaurant, she starts teaching cooking lessons; Lorca signs up.

Together, they make cardamom pistachio cookies, baklava, kubba with squash. They also begin to suspect they are connected by more than their love of food. Soon, though, they must reckon with the past, the future, and the truth—whatever it might be. Bukra fil mish mish, the Arabic saying goes. Tomorrow, apricots may bloom.

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