Karma Brown in Conversation

Photo credit: Girl Well Read and Penguin Random House Canada. Do not use without written permission.

Karma Brown was in conversation with Marci Ien (The Social) about her captivating dual narrative novel, Recipe for a Perfect Wife, a thrilling novel about women daring to take control. Brown spoke about her inspiration and her writing process. A question and answer period, as well as a book signing followed.

I love the dual narrative: two women that are sixty years apart. Please introduce us to Nellie and Alice.

"There is Nellie, she's the quintessential 1950s housewife. On the surface her life looks nice and easy. She's cooking the meals for her husband and keeping house, and she seems happy.

"And then we have Alice in the present day who has been reluctantly moved from Manhattan into the suburbs, into this old house that requires a lot of work. She has recently left her job and she is feeling a little unsure as to what is next for her."

Karma elaborated; "It really is, at its core, a marriage book. It is looking at these two women, sixty years apart, but what are the things that have been the same for them, and what are the struggles that they are each facing? So what are the similarities between despite the different eras and you know, have we come as far as we think we have as women and within our marriages? So, it is a story of these two very distinct women in these very distinct times, but there are a lot of crossover between them."

There are many things that they have in common, one of which is the secrets that they are keeping from their partners.

Alice is 29 and doesn't know what she wants yet. She has had to leave her job—she is a career woman with great visions who thought at some point she would write a novel—to go along with her husband's plan. Because Alice is not bringing in an income, she assumes she's lost some of the power where making decisions are concerned and instead takes on a domestic role because that is what is expected of her. She is keeping a number of secrets and a result, makes poor choices throughout the story. "Part of it is that she is trying to figure out who she is, she's young." Karma said. 

Nothing is as it appears to be for either woman.

The structure

Recipe for a Perfect Wife is a dual narrative. Nellie's chapters feature a recipe because that is her talent. In 1950, it was in the kitchen where women showed their power and their worth. Nellie was known for her dinner parties, her gardening, and her skills in the kitchen, but there was this woman trying to break out.

When Karma was writing this book she was thinking about her grandmother who loved to sing, she even sang on the radio in high school. But then she got married and had children and didn't sing anymore. Instead, she was a mother and a housewife—it was not an option to do both. Karma thought about all these women, like her grandmother, who had amazing talents and hopes. They were unable to really live them out because of the time they were living in and the expectations that were placed upon them. Nellie has a whole other side to her that is finding its way out throughout the story. 

Relationships

There are some strong female relationships in the book. Nellie has Miriam (the elderly neighbour) who has taken Nellie under her wing and is a mother figure—she protects and encourages her. In present day, Alice has befriended Miriam's daughter, Sally, who lives in Miriam's house. Sally is a modern woman who has never married and became a physician in a time where there weren't many women in medical school. Sally acts as an anchor for Alice. 

The characters in the book are all strong and by extension, feminists. Karma had a very clear vision of Nellie where she was sitting, smoking one of her Lucky cigarettes, and drinking lemonade with her cookbook and she wondered what Nellie's life looked like if you went beneath the surface. In some ways, she is very much a victim, but is not a victim throughout. These women are flawed and they make mistakes, but were able to find their power and make their own choices.

Tell us about your research

A journalist by trade, Karma did a lot of research which extended into the copyediting process—things that she didn't get exactly right. She read old magazine articles and watched a lot of home economic videos from the fifties so that she could see what girls were learning in school in order to prepare them for becoming proper housewives. Jennifer Robson (author of The Gown) is a brilliant historian and was an invaluable resource for Brown. 

Each of Alice's chapters open with a piece of advice or a tip for wives/women and they are all vintage quotes. Karma pointed out that they are all "pretty depressing" and are essentially all about making your husband happy. 

Did you set out on a path when writing this book? 

"I just wanted to write these two women's stories and have this cookbook—I have some old cookbooks that I grew up with in my family and I love them and I love the notations. I have picked up a few that are not from my family just to look through and see the notations that people put in their cookbooks.

"I love the idea of having these women connected. I wanted [the house] to feel like another character because it was holding secrets from the past and the present and I loved the idea of the house being part of the story. 

"It was a secret book, I mean I was working on [it] between contracts and no one really knew about it and I just had this amazing freedom to write it however it wanted to be written. I'm really lucky with how it turned out."  

Sally sat up straighter, put on an animated face, and waggled a finger the way Alice assumed her mother must have. “She said, 'Sally, the hardest question we have to ask ourselves in this life is, Who am I?' Ideally, we answer it for ourselves, but be warned that others will strive to do it for you—so don’t let them.” Is there a story behind that quote?

Karma said that this quote has resonated with so many and a popular topic that everyone wants to talk about. 

The story behind the quote is that while she was baking, she was watching Quantico and in the episode, the main character was struggling with some things in her life—she learned some secrets from her past that she hadn't been aware of—and someone said to her "you need to decide who you want to be." Karma thought that this was exactly what Sally needs to say to Alice in this scene. She also mentioned that this was added in a later edit. "It's so perfect for the story. It's true for everyone. Who am I? Who do I want to be? What's imprortant to me? How can I make sure that I am doing the things I need to be doing to be true to that? It is a hard question to ask and to know the answer to. And I think it changes." 

How did you come up with the title?

Karma said that the titles for her books have always changed. She sent this book to her group of author friends and Recipe for a Perfect Wife was the title of the early draft and everyone loved it! "It resonates so well with people."

What's next?

"All I can say is that it will be another dual narrative, set in present day and the 1970s. Two women, again, and there will be some secrets. And it will be a little dark again, like this one...set in the Adirondacks."

Recipe for a Perfect Wife 

Alice Hale has left not only her career in publicity, but the city she loves, and finds herself in the suburbs attempting to write a novel. In the basement of her fixer upper century home, she uncovers a well-loved cookbook and within its pages, there are notations and handwritten letters. She comes to learn that they are written by the previous home owner, Nellie Murdoch, to her mother.

Feeling inspired, and an affinity towards Nellie, Alice starts cooking from her recipes and wearing vintage clothing. As she experiments with the tried-and-true recipes, she uncovers a dangerous side to Nellie's marriage and comes to the realization that she too is unhappy with the pressures that are also in her relationship. Alice begins to take control of her life and like Nellie, arms herself with some secrets of her own.

BUY NOW

KARMA BROWN is an award-winning journalist and author of the bestsellers Come Away With Me, The Choices We Make, In This Moment, and The Life Lucy Knew. In addition to her novels, Karma's writing has appeared in publications such as Redbook, SELF, and Chatelaine.

Brown lives just outside Toronto, Canada with her husband, daughter, and their adorably handsome labradoodle, Fred.