Blood, bones and butter, the inadvertent education of a reluctant chef, by Gabrielle Hamilton

Hamilton, a writer and the owner of the Manhattan restaurant, Prune, had a most unusual childhood, and has had a messy adulthood. Her early affectionate memories of her parents contrast sharply with their virtual abandonment of her as a young teen when they broke up and left to her largely to her own devices. The love of her life seems to have been a woman with whom she had a long term relationship, but she is married to an Italian man many years her senior, with whom she has two children. They have never shared a home. Her relationship with her Italian in-laws in complicated as well. An honest and interesting memoir. I’d love to taste her food if she’s as good a chef as she is a writer. 304 pp.