A illness ensuing from consuming one thing too entire and too shortly, heartburn is a painful, burning sensation felt simply behind the breastbone which is usually mistaken by first-time victims for a coronary heart assault. Ephron’s titular double-entendre immediately units the tone for this soul-changing 179-page novel.
Whether or not you’ve seen the movement image adaptation starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson or not, choosing up Ephron’s 1983 novel is a necessary, side-splitting step in therapeutic from heartbreak – particularly for followers of gastronomical literary icons similar to M.F.Okay Fisher. A roman à clef imbued with the ache, solidarity and humour of private expertise, we meet Rachel – a girl who, seven months into her being pregnant, has found her husband is in love with another person.
The 38-year-old Rachel Samstat writes cookbooks, so it actually is smart that she navigates heartbreak via meals. Oscillating between wanting her husband again and hoping he’s useless, we’re welcomed into the convoluted, hilarious psyche of Ms Samstat as she deliciously writes her means out of a damaged coronary heart.