Baking as Biography: A Life Story in Recipes

Hidden among the simple lists of ingredients and directions for everyday foods are surprising stories. In Baking as Biography, Diane Tye considers her mother's recipe collection, reading between the lines of the aging index cards to provide a candid and nuanced portrait of one woman's life as mother, minister's wife, and participant in local Maritime women's networks.

Tye shows that baking was a complex activity for her mother, Laurene, a reluctant but prolific cook. She reads her mother's r...