Present a story with a food in the title and I’m listening. Pair it with a premise that delves into family history, cooking, and an identity crisis of sorts, and I will read it! That’s the starting point of The Divine Proverb of Streusel by Sara Brunsvold, a women’s fiction story that explores family identity and forgiveness.
Shaken by her parents’ divorce and discouraged by the growing chasm between herself and her serious boyfriend, Nikki Werner seeks solace at her uncle’s farm in a small Missouri hamlet. She’ll spend the summer there, picking up the pieces of her shattered present so she can plan a better future. But what awaits her at the ancestral farm is the past—one she barely knows.
Among her late grandmother’s belongings, Nikki finds an old notebook filled with handwritten German recipes and wise sayings pulled from the book of Proverbs. With each recipe she makes, she invites locals to the family table to hear their stories about the town’s history, her ancestors, and her estranged father.
What started as a cathartic way to connect to her heritage soon becomes the means through which she learns how the women before her endured—with the help of their cooking prowess and a healthy dollop of faith.
I LOVED The Divine Proverb of Streusel! It’s a unique look at heritage, resilience, home, and how the past influences present choices. It delves deeply into the theme of grief, though this theme makes itself known subtly in the story– whether grief for a loved one lost or grief for a severed or altered relationship — and brings the contemplation and settling of emotions full circle through down-to-earth characters and everyday interactions of just “doing the next thing”. I appreciate how it shows the active choice to forgive and love is tough sometimes, but ultimately a model of the grace we are shown in Christ.
The rural Missouri setting is easy to picture as it is a neighboring state. And, the recipes and table fellowship in this story make me want to cook for my loved ones. Of course I was rooting for the tiny threads to two romantic storylines, though their completion had more import as part of the overarching story of reconciliation and trust.
I thoroughly enjoyed switching between reading this story and listening to the audiobook production as time allowed.
Thank you to the publisher for the review ebook copy. I voluntarily purchased an audiobook copy for my shelves. This is my honest review.
The Green Mockingbird 