A review of Love & Saffron
by
Kim
Fay
Someone whose taste in books runs parallel to mine kept raving about this book, so I've been wanting to read it for a while. I'm so glad I finally did. This book was lovely and delightful and bittersweet and appetizing (lots of talk of food) and just all the good things. Plus, it's under 200 pages so I was able to read it over the course of a rainy day.
In October, 1962 Joan Bergstrom, a 27-year-old living in L.A., decides to write a fan letter (with a gift of saffron) to Imogen Fortier, a 59-year-old living in Seattle. Imogen writes a monthly column for a Pacific Northwest magazine about life on Camano Island - where Imogen and her husband have a summer home. This first contact leads to a years long correspondence and friendship that develops between the women. In their letters they share their thoughts on food, their personal lives, and events happening in the world around them. The relationship and letters they share has ripple effects on the people in their lives and each sees growth in unexpected directions.
What starts out as a simple friendship, told in letters, between two women becomes a demonstration of how people's worlds can expand when they are open to new adventures. If you loved Helene Hanff's 84, Charing Cross Road, then you will love this. And if you haven't read that one? You should. Read both.