¿Existe la receta para un matrimonio perfecto? De ser así, ¿cómo mezclar los ingredientes en su justa proporción? Igual que al preparar un pastel, un día puedes acertar y al siguiente no: ayer demasiado dulce, hoy un tanto insípido, mañana una pizca amargo. Se dice que el elemento imprescindible es el amor, pero existen muchas clases de amor y muchas maneras de entenderlo. Y además, hay que añadir otros factores como el romanticismo, el sexo, la fidelidad o la afinidad de intereses, por no hablar de la mayor renuncia de todas: la independencia personal. Precisamente esto último se ha vuelto un martirio para Tressa, una escritora neoyorquina que, recién llegada de su luna de miel, se plantea la pregunta del millón: ¿se ha casado por amor o por miedo a quedarse sola?
Seguramente Tressa se sentiría mucho mejor si leyese los diarios de su abuela Bernardine, unas páginas de incalculable valor humano donde se relata cómo, en los años treinta, contrajo matrimonio con un apacible maestro de escuela después de que su familia no consintiera su boda con el impetuoso Michael, a quien amaba con ardorosa pasión. Entre recetas tradicionales de tartas de ruibarbo, mermelada de grosella y pan casero, el lector descubrirá la verdad que la propia Tressa ignora sobre sus abuelos y su madre, y quizá también encuentre, de paso, la clave para conseguir el verdadero matrimonio perfecto.

Very different writing style.
Two stories, one present day heroine, one history of her grandmother.
Both heroines were quite dislikeable and selfish at times but that's maybe due to their honesty in their perspective.
No intimate scenes.
Modern day heroine is constantly unsure of her feelings for her new husband and tries to resolve this by kissing an ex. She planned to have sex with him but couldn't go through with it.
The grandmother is refused marriage to her "Micheal" and feels she's in love with him throughout most of her marriage.
Both husbands deserved a sainthood.
HEA sort of. The grandmother comes to certain realisation so thats her HEA.
( )

This is the first Kate Kerrigan book that I've read. It was quite a nice read, quite predictable in parts. I did enjoy the writing style and it kept me interested. I found Tressa pretty annoying although I could understand how she felt at times.I felt sorry for James, how he stayed in that marriage to Bernadine for so long I'll never know. The relationship between Bernadine and all of the other characters makes me feel sorry for her too. The partner she loved disappeared, she had to marry this school teacher at her parents request, her relationship with her parents and daughter, her love for Michael after all those years. It makes you feel sad that she appeared to have such little happiness.
3.5/5 ( )

A normal, modern girl, who believes that you sleep with a series of men until you find The One, finds herself married to Dan, and horrified at all the things about him that annoy her. The book alternates between her story and that of her grandmother, Bernadine, who in Ireland was denied the chance to marry the young man she loved, and was forced to marry James. She let her bitterness cloud their marriage for over 50 years, until finally as he is dying she realizes love is an action, not a feeling.

Both stories were interesting in how the women came to a mature realization that marriage takes work... But they were both too immature and selfish to really enjoy the stories. ( )

March 2011 Church of the Cross Book Club selection.

I have mixed feelings on the book myself, but it made for an excellent discussion as we had a couple people who loved it and a couple for hated it. For me, I didn't want to put it down once I got started, but after finishing and thinking about it, the messages didn't sit all that well with me. I completely agree that love is not an easy thing and demands work, but was put off by Prunty's too perfect male characters and unlikeable female narrators. The way the characters were constructed led to me feeling like the "work" of love was all put down as the women needing to change themselves. I think the book would have really benefited from having some sort of male viewpoint - it might have made things seem more balanced. Also, the inconsistencies in dates, ages and historical accuracy made my mom crazy, but I didn't notice them at all. I think I wasn't expecting that kind of attention to detail in this style of book for some reason. Food for thought. ( )