Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots

A Novel

By: Jessica Soffer

Narrated by: Kathleen Gati, Kate Reinders

Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

This is a story about accepting the people we love - the people we have to love and the people we choose to love, the families we’re given and the families we make. It’s the story of two women adrift in New York, a widow and an almost-orphan, each searching for someone she’s lost. It’s the story of how, even in moments of grief and darkness, there are joys waiting nearby.

Lorca spends her life poring over cookbooks, making croissants and chocolat chaud, seeking out rare ingredients, all to earn the love of her distracted chef of a mother, who is now packing her off to boarding school. In one last effort to prove herself indispensable, Lorca resolves to track down the recipe for her mother’s ideal meal, an obscure Middle Eastern dish called masgouf. Victoria, grappling with her husband’s death, has been dreaming of the daughter they gave up forty years ago. An Iraqi Jewish immigrant who used to run a restaurant, she starts teaching cooking lessons; Lorca signs up. Together, they make cardamom pistachio cookies, baklava, kubba with squash. They also begin to suspect they are connected by more than their love of food. Soon, though, they must reckon with the past, the future, and the truth - whatever it might be. Bukra fil mish mish, the Arabic saying goes. Tomorrow, apricots may bloom.

©2013 Jessica Soffer (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Mostly fabulous (especially the food), but a few flaws.

First off: TW self harm. This isn’t mentioned in the publisher summary, and is a central plot element that is described in pretty graphic detail and isn’t actually all tidied up by the end.

That being said, I really enjoyed this book. Soffer’s writing is luscious and vivid, and she brilliantly gives well rounded voices to two very unique protagonists.

The food writing is superb. I am definitely going to seek out and/or make all of the Iraqi dishes described here. The historical information is fascinating, though not explored in much detail, and definitely made me want to know more about the history of Iraqi Jews.

I did have one major issue with the audiobook narration. Lorca is meant to be extremely familiar with the French food scene in NY, and is something of a French cooking prodigy. In her passages she spends long sections describing French dishes (poulet roti, chocolate chaud) and name dropping actual French restaurants like Le Bernardin and Les Halles. These are all words that any cook in NY can pronounce (if not perfectly, at least recognizably) and that a girl raised by an elitist French chef would certainly say correctly. Kate Reinders mispronounced every single French word. And I don’t mean “didn’t speak like a native Parisian” I mean actively says them so incorrectly that it was jarring. While she had the “teenage girl” time correct, Lorca isn’t your average adolescent and the lack of attention to detail was especially unfortunate. Especially when juxtaposed with Victoria’s passages where Kathleen Gati seemed to be completely at home embodying the Iraqi vocabulary and accent. That the production chose to have Reinders also narrate Joseph was a truly strange choice. This is not the first audible production where the narrator’s lack of familiarity with another language has been a major let down.

Beautiful lines. I ended up loving it but it took me a while to warm up to it.

I loved the non-clinical explanation of mental illness, addictions and other painful pieces humanity. Jessica Soffer Beautifully described beautiful and ugly piece of humanity and Helped me see how none of us are black and white. Nothing is it exactly as it seems. She does leave a lot unexplained. But I’d like that. It’s real life. We don’t have to have it all tied up in a bow. For people who hated some of the characters and gave this book one or two stars. You’re supposed to hate some of the characters. That’s what the author creates flawed humans. You’re supposed to feel like people failed, that not everyone knows the answers. That’s real. It happens. This book is not a fairytale. It’s not happily ever after. It made me feel several emotions.. that for me is a sign of a good book.

Tomorrow there Will be Apricots

This book was a joy to read, even while tackling important topics of grief, longing, and loss. At times it is frustrating because of the suppositions made by the characters, but it is well worth your time and credit.
Characters assume things about others, then are so disappointed why things are not the way they thought. Sometimes this is good, sometimes not so much.
I am glad the author chose not to go the route of complete cliche; it would've made me return the book if she had!
I loved these characters, wanted to give many of them comforting hugs, and then in the next breath tell them to get out of themselves.
Maybe this is why I liked the book so much; the characters made me feel something. Perhaps that was its biggest drawback, as the book didn't really GO anywhere.

A third narrator fr Joseph's portions might have been a good idea as well, but that opinion is my own.

I wonderful read about family, loss and love.

Where does Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is one of my favourites. I have recommended it to all my female friends.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The daughter

What does Kathleen Gati and Kate Reinders bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I normally do not like separate readers but I really enjoyed the two voices telling the story from two separate point-of-views.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Many...but I do not want to give anything away. Be warned that you will be hungry while reading this book with all the cooking scenes. Luckily the recipes can be found on the author's web-site.

Any additional comments?

I really did not know much about the motivations and problems of "cutting" before reading this novel.