We chat with author Monica Comas about Recipe For Joy, which follows a grieving woman who finds healing and purpose through her late grandmother’s cherished recipes in a poignant and hopeful novel about rediscovering the comfort of family in the most trying of times.
Hi, Monica! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello, and thanks for having me! A little bit about myself: I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and now live in New York City with my husband, John, and our tiny shih tzu, Poirot. I’ve written fiction my entire life, but Recipe for Joy actually launches a second career for me. I used to be a journalist and financial editor. But fiction was always my true love—and what a thrill it is now to devote myself to it full-time.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I was young! My friend and I used to write plays in grade school. That snowballed into me taking creative writing in high school and then in college. But practical me took a detour from fiction and got my master’s in journalism, which led to a career as a journalist and financial editor. But that itch to write fiction would not leave me alone—funny how our first loves stay with us!
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Heartwood by Amity Gaige
Your debut novel, Recipe for Joy, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
How memories’ flavors can connect
What can readers expect?
I think readers can expect some emotional meat on this novel’s bones. There’s generational secrets and tricky relationships, along with loads of heart and whimsy. The main character has a deep yearning to find herself and connect. And there’s the food piece, which ends up being powerful. In short, readers can expect a novel that would make for a great book-club discussion.
Where did the inspiration for Recipe for Joy come from?
I wrote this novel after my sweet mom passed away, which was a tricky time, as anyone who’s lost someone knows. My husband, pup, and I were living in Gates Mills, Ohio, which is the most charming town. We’d moved there so I could take care of my mom, and in that home we all made cherished memories together. It was a sanctuary for us. And then, after my mom passed away, it cradled us during the most tender time of our lives.
When I tried to write again, I didn’t have an appetite to resume the project I’d been working on, but I had this kernel of a story in the back of my mind…a kernel that I never had the right framework for, or, frankly the emotional maturity to undertake. Strangely enough, sitting with all the messiness that grief sets at your feet and the profound gratitude for the time we had in Gates Mills, this dormant kernel of a story finally started unfurling.
My mom is woven throughout many of the characters in Recipe for Joy. Gates Mills is the setting, along with New York City. The charm and heart, it’s inspired by our time there. In a lot of ways, this novel is a love letter to a place, to a time, and to people I hold dear.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I think writing Alexis, the headstrong sister, was my favorite. This character is strong and assertive, bold and declarative. She’s a force….aaaaaaaand completely unlike me! So that was really fun digging into this character that was wildly different from myself. Her mannerisms, the way she speaks, the space she takes up in the world all fall at the other end of the spectrum from where quiet, writer me sits. I could probably use a little more Alexis in me!
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
I think grief was my biggest challenge. As I mentioned, I started this at a profoundly difficult time, after my mom’s passing. So, the usual way I’d always written didn’t work anymore. I’d always written on my laptop. But for whatever reason, that wasn’t available to me—maybe because it harkened to the before of it all. So I started writing longhand. It was messy. Emotional. But in the end, it was necessary to get to the words that would get this story going. I think giving myself permission to be messy and imperfect, to write words that would never ever see the light of day, to just let myself get the emotions out…all of that was integral to getting to the plot, characters, and structure of Recipe for Joy.
What’s next for you?
My next novel is about adult siblings returning to their childhood Hamptons home for one week in the summer, the way they do every year, but this year’s gathering turns tricky when milestones churn up stormy memories of art and marriage. Their mercurial mother is having her final art show, while their grandmother—who holds powerful sway over the family (much to her artist daughter-in-law’s dismay)—is having a memorial for their troubled father nearly twenty years after the fact. All the siblings are navigating their own life challenges, bringing additional stormy emotional weather to the visit. But it’s a longheld secret that nearly undoes them all. This is a story about a complicated, funny, vivacious family. It delves into the challenges of adult siblings returning home, how emotions, memories, and resentments rear up—and what a family has to do to see its way through. But what I love about this novel is that it gets to the heart of what it really means to be a family.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
I have so many books that I’m looking forward to! But I’ll limit myself to three here: Dreamt I Found You by Jimin Han, White Rabbit by Abigail Rose-Marie, and Our Marriage Is Murder by Carol Goodman.
