Synopsis
When Nancy Spiller discovered her late mother’s teaching credential buried in the midst of a long abandoned recipe box, she felt compelled to investigate the lingering mysteries of this troubled woman. Marguerite Lenore Soult had taught for only one year before marrying, having four children and a life surrendered to mental illness, divorce and social withdrawal. Spiller realized that she had probably been her mother’s best and only student in the kitchen they had shared.
Compromise Cake explores Spiller’s life in the suburbs of Northern California in the 1960s, learning to cook by her challenging mother’s side, as remembered through the recipe box’s mid-century and heirloom offerings. It touches on lineage, and industrial changes; it is a meditation on men, women, marriage, community and the nature of compromise.
What emerges is a portrait of a woman whose own desires for a career were tragically stifled by the conventional pressures to be a wife and mother, but found expression through her daughter, an author, artist and teacher. This is a memoir that weds Spiller’s story to the universal of all mothers and daughters, and what, as they say, is baked into the cake.
Compromise Cake explores Spiller’s life in the suburbs of Northern California in the 1960s, learning to cook by her challenging mother’s side, as remembered through the recipe box’s mid-century and heirloom offerings. It touches on lineage, and industrial changes; it is a meditation on men, women, marriage, community and the nature of compromise.
What emerges is a portrait of a woman whose own desires for a career were tragically stifled by the conventional pressures to be a wife and mother, but found expression through her daughter, an author, artist and teacher. This is a memoir that weds Spiller’s story to the universal of all mothers and daughters, and what, as they say, is baked into the cake.
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About the Author
Nancy Spiller is a writer and artist living in Los Angeles. A fourth generation Californian and native of the San Francisco Bay Area, she was a staff writer at the San Jose Mercury News and Los Angeles Herald Examiner and editor at the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Salon.com, Cooking Light, and Town & Country. She is the author of Entertaining Disasters: A Novel (With Recipes) and teaches in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.
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Compromise Cake: Lessons Learned from My Mother's Recipe Box
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1619021129I3N00
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Compromise Cake: Lessons Learned from My Mother's Recipe Box
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1619021129I4N00
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Compromise Cake: Lessons Learned from my Mother's Recipe Box
Seller: Midtown Scholar Bookstore, Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. Good - Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name - GOOD Standard-sized. Seller Inventory # M1619021129Z3
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Compromise Cake: Lessons Learned from my Mother's Recipe Box
Seller: Midtown Scholar Bookstore, Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Very Good - Crisp, clean, unread book with some shelfwear/edgewear, may have a remainder mark - NICE Standard-sized. Seller Inventory # M1619021129Z2
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Compromise Cake: Lessons Learned from my Mother's Recipe Box
Published by
Counterpoint, 2013
ISBN 10: 1619021129
ISBN 13: 9781619021129
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Friends of SMPL Bookstore, Santa Monica, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: As New. 1st Edition. Lessons learned from my mother's recipe box is the content. Signature of author on the title page. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 3902
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Compromise Cake: Lessons Learned from my Mother's Recipe Box
Published by
Counterpoint, 2013
ISBN 10: 1619021129
ISBN 13: 9781619021129
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Les Livres des Limbes, Chisseaux, France
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Minimal wear. In the beginning we had Oprah and her Autobiographical fiction which led to a million little pieces of fictional memoir and the latest trend in the surge is peppering family narratives with recipes. It is an acquired taste. This particular work however has qualities not often found elsewhere. A long meditation on sex roles, ethics, women's struggles in crisp prose alternating with actual recipes and an overview of the 20th century food industry. Illustrated with original artwork by the author, inscribed by author on title page. Inscribed by Author(s). Book. Seller Inventory # 14984