Sugar and Salt: A Novel

by Susan Wiggs

Overview

The New York Times bestselling author of The Lost and Found Bookshop brings readers a can’t-miss tale of friendship, hardship, redemption, and love between a San Francisco baker and a barbecue master from Texas.

"Susan Wiggs understands the tender dramas of everyday life, of friendship and family, of wanting something that might be just beyond reach. She will make you believe in life’s sweetness.”--Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author of The Shadow Box

“Wiggs writes with compassion and insight...This is another winner.” —Booklist

Jerome Sugar learned the art of baking in his grandma’s bakery, also called Sugar, on historic Perdita Street in San Francisco. He supplies baked goods to the Lost and Found Bookshop across the street.

When the restaurant that shares his commercial kitchen loses its longtime tenant, a newcomer moves in: Margot Salton, a barbecue master from Texas.

Margot isn’t exactly on the run, but she needs a fresh start. She’s taken care of herself her whole life, pulling herself up by her fingernails to recover from trauma, and her dream has been to open a restaurant somewhere far, far from Texas. The shared kitchen with Jerome's Sugar bakery is the perfect setup: a state-of-the-art kitchen and a vibrant neighborhood popular with tourists and locals.

Margot instantly takes to Jerome’s mother, the lively, opinionated Ida. The older woman proves to be a good mentor, and Margot is drawn to Jerome. Despite their different backgrounds their attraction is powerful—even though Jerome worries that Margot will simply move on from him once she’s found some peace and stability. But just as she starts to relax into a happy new future, Margot’s past in Texas comes back to haunt her…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062914255
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	07/26/2022
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	4,907
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Susan Wiggs's life is all about family, friends…and fiction. She lives at the water's edge on an island in Puget Sound, and in good weather, she commutes to her writers' group in a 21-foot motorboat. She’s been featured in the national media, including NPR, PRI, and USA Today, has given programs for the US Embassies in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, and is a popular speaker locally, nationally, internationally, and on the high seas.

From the very start, her writings have illuminated the everyday dramas of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. Her books celebrate the power of love, the timeless bonds of family and the fascinating nuances of human nature. Today, she is an international best-selling, award-winning author, with millions of copies of her books in print in numerous countries and languages. According to Publishers Weekly, Wiggs writes with "refreshingly honest emotion," and the Salem Statesman Journal adds that she is "one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book." Booklist characterizes her books as "real and true and unforgettable."

Her novels have appeared in the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List, and have captured readers’ hearts around the globe with translations into more than 20 languages and 30 countries. She is a three-time winner of the RITA Award,. Her recent novel, The Apple Orchard, is currently being made into a film, and The Lakeshore Chronicles has been optioned for adaptation into a series.

The author is a former teacher, a Harvard graduate, an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier and terrible golfer, yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book. She lives on an island in Puget Sound, where she divides her time between sleeping and waking.

Editorial Reviews

"Wiggs writes with compassion and insight... This is another winner." — Booklist

“Susan Wiggs and the words ‘favorite writer’ go together, and with Sugar and Salt she is at the top of her powers. She understands the tender dramas of everyday life, of friendship and family, of wanting something that might be just beyond reach—and then again might not. I loved her character Margot Salter, and my heart soared and broke and soared again to learn the secrets of her past and how they threaten her hard-won present. Susan writes so deliciously about food, love, and hope...she will make you believe in life’s sweetness.” — Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author of The Shadow Box

“Compassionate and poignant... Hot-button issues from real-life events inspired Wiggs to write this complex, thought-provoking novel that depicts how the power of friendship and love can overcome heart-wrenching challenges.” — Shelf Awareness on Sugar and Salt

"Sugar and Salt is a touching and important read." — Bookreporter.com

“An unputdownable, true book lover’s book that fans of women’s fiction, slow-burning romance, and the novels of Nora Roberts and Kristin Hannah will love.” — Library Journal (starred review) on The Lost and Found Bookshop

“A feel-good family saga… A charming tale about the silver linings of unwanted detours.”  — People on The Lost and Found Bookshop

“A wonderful exploration of the past and the future and, most importantly, of what it means to be present in the here and now. Full of the love of words, the love of family, and the love of falling in love, The Lost and Found Bookshop is a big-hearted gem of a novel that will satisfy and entertain readers from all walks of life. Lovely!” — Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

“What a warm and deeply satisfying story! Reading it is like feeling the summer sun after a long winter.” — Erica Bauermeister, New York Times bestselling author of The Scent Keeper, on The Lost and Found Bookshop

“A gentle love story perfect for anyone looking for love amid personal, family, and financial crises.”  — Kirkus Reviews on The Lost and Found Bookshop

From the Publisher

A wonderful exploration of the past and the future and, most importantly, of what it means to be present in the here and now. Full of the love of words, the love of family, and the love of falling in love, The Lost and Found Bookshop is a big-hearted gem of a novel that will satisfy and entertain readers from all walks of life. Lovely!

Garth Stein

Susan Wiggs and the words "favorite writer" go together, and with Sugar and Salt she is at the top of her powers. She understands the tender dramas of everyday life, of friendship and family, of wanting something that might be just beyond reach—and then again might not. I loved her character Margot Salter, and my heart soared and broke and soared again to learn the secrets of her past and how they threaten her hard-won present. Susan writes so deliciously about food, love, and hope...she will make you believe in life's sweetness."

Luanne Rice

A feel-good family saga… A charming tale about the silver linings of unwanted detours.” 

People on The Lost and Found Bookshop

What a warm and deeply satisfying story! Reading it is like feeling the summer sun after a long winter.

Erica Bauermeister

08/01/2021

In the No. 1 New York Times best-selling Chamberlain's The Last House on the Street, Kayla Carter is mourning the husband who died building their dream house in a North Carolina community as warnings from not one but two older women not to move into the house eventually lead to a story of prejudice and violence that rocked the community a half-century earlier (150,000-copy first printing). A librarian like her creator, debut novelist Jurczyk, Liesl Weiss is shocked to discover that a valuable manuscript has gone missing from The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections but is told not to raise a ruckus—but she starts investigating when a colleague goes missing as well. Getting readied for television by the BBC, May's debut novel, Wahala ("trouble"), features three British Nigerian women whose close friendship is blown to bits when a glamorous and ultimately venomous outsider insinuates herself into the group. In No. 1 New York Times best-selling Mitchard's The Good Son, Thea Demetriou must find a way to support her son emotionally when he returns home from prison after having committed a heinous crime. Patterson and Lupica join forces with The Horsewoman, the story of a mother and daughter who are both champion riders—and are up against each other in competitons leading to the Paris Olympics. In Shalvis's series starter, The Family You Make, Jane is dangerously stranded on a ski lift with Levi Cutler, who impulsively tells his parents by cellphone that she is his girlfriend—a charade she agrees to keep up when she finds herself falling for him and his warm, embracing family. Sorell follows up her well-rendered small-press debut, Mothers and Other Strangers, with Three Wise Women: an officious advice columnist and her two troubled adult daughters. In Steel's latest, a young woman who survived a neglectful childhood by hunkering down can remain Invisible no longer when her dream of becoming a film director unexpectedly puts her in front of the camera. Revisiting Perdita Street, the setting of Wiggs's beloved The Lost and Found Bookstore, Sugar and Salt makes love bloom between San Francisco baker Jerome "Sugar" Barnes and barbecue master Molly Salton, trying to forget an unhappy past in Texas.

Library Journal