Shelby Preston, a young single mother, is at a crossroads. She feels suffocated by her hardscrabble life in rural Georgia and dreams of becoming a professional chef. Lord knows her family could use a pot of something good.

In Atlanta, Mallory Lakes is reeling from a bad breakup. The newspaper food columnist is also bracing for major changes at work that could put her job at risk. Determined to find the perfect recipe for how to reinvent herself, she gets involved in the growing farm-to-table movement. But an emotional setback threatens to derail everything she’s worked for.

Shelby and Mallory couldn’t be more different. But through their shared passion for food, they form an unlikely friendship—a bond that just might be their salvation.

From the Author: The Promise Kitchen reflects my fascination with mother-daughter relationships, cooking, and the American South–all of her splendors and incongruities. At 380 pages, the book includes an addendum of recipes reflecting the content of the book.

My hope is that people who enjoyed books such as Fried Green Tomatoes, The Secret Life of Bees, and Like Water for Chocolate might savor a story such as this.

Writers have different approaches to stimulate the process; my camera is a constant companion and images that I’ve recorded through the years are of tremendous assistance in fueling my words, as pictured in the slideshow “trailer” below.

Awards & Praise

Praise for Peggy Lampman’s previously published edition, titled Simmer and Smoke:

“A poor country girl and a fashionable city woman learn about life in a tasty novel that blends romance and recipes...A sweetly told saga, bubbling with appealing characters and food-related talk.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[Peggy Lampman] knows the exact ingredients needed to create an appealing story...An eye-opening and thought provoking must read.” —San Francisco Book Review, 5 Stars

“A story full of the evocative, powerful influence of food, cooking, love, friendship, and family on the human heart...A book full of flavor and substance worth savoring.” —Indie Reader

“Peggy Lampman is an engaging writer, capturing the heart of Southern living with wit, charm, and vivid detail as she alternates chapters between Shelby, Mallory, and Miss Ann...For readers who enjoy a Southern flavor to their stories, spending time in the company of these fine folks will go down as easily as a slice of watermelon on a hot summer’s day.” —BlueInk Review

Winner, Best New Fiction, 2016: National Indie Excellence Awards

Winner, Silver Medal, 2016: IBPA Ben Franklin; Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book

Winner, First Place Fiction, 2015: Royal Dragonfly Awards 

“…All my life I’ve yearned from something more, something I struggle to define. An image lies in wait, appears in a flash, then gone. It’s in the brushed edge of a dream that leaves behind no memory, only a warming prickle of joy. It’s in the smell of fresh-turned soil after a frost, ancient and newborn. It’s in the taste of honeysuckle nectar—what the wood nymphs drink, I tell my child—that we dot onto our tongues every spring.”

Ten percent of net profits from the sale of this contemporary American novel are donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center.