Chapters (75)
- Cover
- Back Cover Text
- Praise
- Booklist
- About the Author
- Dedication
- Quote
- Prologue
- Part One
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- Part Two
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- Part Three
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- Part Four
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- Part Five
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- Part Six
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- Part Seven
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- Part Eight
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- Part Nine
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- Part Ten
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- Part Eleven
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- Part Twelve
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- Part Thirteen
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- AUTHOR NOTE
- Reader’s Guide
- Questions for Discussion
- The Heirloom Garden
- Abby
“Filled with cherished memories and treasured recipes, The Recipe Box is a touching tribute to the women and food that unite us and connect our past to the present.”
—Richard Paul Evans, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Shipman’s charming stories remind us how family recipe collections link generations and spark our fondest memories. Treasure them!”
—Julee Rosso, author of The Silver Palate Cookbook
Booklist
Books by Viola Shipman
The Recipe Box
The Hope Chest
The Charm Bracelet
About the Author
Viola Shipman is a pen name for Wade Rouse, a popular award-winning memoirist. Rouse chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his writing. Rouse is the author of The Charm Bracelet, The Hope Chest and The Recipe Box, which have been translated into over a dozen languages and become international bestsellers. He divides his time between Saugatuck, Michigan, and Palm Springs, California, and writes regularly for People, Coastal Living and Good Housekeeping, among others, and is a contributor to All Things Considered.
ViolaShipman.com
Dedication
To my grandparents, who taught me that the tiniest of cottages could feel like mansions if they were filled with love.
And to Gary, who taught me to break all the rules.
Quote
“What makes our summer cottage so special? The fact that we don’t need anything else in this world but inner tubes, fishing poles, books and each other.”
—My grandma, on the log cabin
—Creaky Cabin on Sugar Creek—
where I spent every childhood summer,
from Memorial Day to Labor Day
Prologue
The Rules of Cozy Cottage
July 2006
“There it is!” I said, rolling down the car window and sticking my head out.
Even though I was a grown woman—a married mom now in her thirties—there was nothing like seeing my family’s summer cottage again. I smiled as Cozy Cottage came into view. It looked as though it had been lifted from a storybook: an old, shingled cottage sitting on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, an American flag flapping in the breeze. The cool wind coming off the lake whistled, the grass on the dunes swayed, the leaves rustled in the aspen trees and the needles of the tall pines surrounding the cottage quivered.
My heart raced, and all the years fell away. I instantly felt as excited as the little girl who knew she’d be spending her entire summer here. I waved at my parents.
“We’re here!” I called. “We’re here!”
I could hear them whooping and hollering from the screened porch. Their happy voices echoed back, enveloping the car.
“Welcome, campers, to Cozy Cottage!”
Our SUV pulled to a stop at the end of the long, gravel drive leading to the summer cottage. My seven-year-old son, Evan, bounded out of the SUV before it had even come to a complete stop.