The Last Book I Read

[This book is due out in April. ] What are the chances that I read two books within 3 days that both feature characters with Aspberger’s? In this novel, though, the syndrome is central to the story.  Ginny is a 26 year old woman with Aspberger’s who lives with her parents in Philadelphia.  The story opens with her parents’ funeral after they die most unexpectedly.  Ginny is grieving and also has to contend with her controlling sister swooping in and assuming that she will make decisions for Ginny, including that the house will be sold and Ginny will move in with her. Ginny bristles at being treated this way, but really doesn’t have the skills to stand up for herself.
Ginny finds comfort in cooking and is quite talented in the kitchen.  The author’s food descriptions are, fittingly, eloquent and evokative.   In the hubbub of the funeral Ginny makes her grandmother’s recipe for ribollita and discovers it summons up her grandmother’s ghost.  It seems as though the ghosts she summons have messages for her, but Ginny cannot quite figure out what the messages mean.
I definitely felt an affection for Ginny and thought her sister was horrible.  It was so frustrating to see the way her sister treated her and see Ginny unable to speak out against it.  I adored the relationship Ginny has with the family friend/cleaning lady, Gert.  Gert seemed able to communicate with Ginny even better than Ginny’s family could.  The only flaw I found in the story was more than halfway through the story you realize that Ginny has never been labeled as having Aspberger’s.  Really? It’s apparent from page one (and says so on the back cover) and Ginny says that she has been all the way through school.  I know Aspberger’s and autism have become more commonly diagnosed in more recent years, but I do not believe that she went all the way through school without it being identified.  Ginny’s self identity as normal and how their is such a broad range of what is normal is important to the story but I think that even if she didn’t know about it others around her certainly would have.
Terrific food writing and I’d love to make some of the recipes-especially the brownies sprinkled with coarse salt.