Soon to be a limited Netflix series starring Zoe Saldana! This Reese Witherspoon Book Club
Pick and New York Times bestseller is “a captivating story of love lost and found” ( Kirkus
Reviews ) set in the lush Sicilian countryside where one woman discovers the healing powers of
food family and unexpected grace in her darkest hours. It was love at first sight when
actress Tembi met professional chef Saro on a street in Florence. There was just one problem:
Saro’s traditional Sicilian family did not approve of his marrying a black American woman.
However the couple heartbroken but undeterred forged on. They built a happy life in Los
Angeles with fulfilling careers deep friendships and the love of their lives: a baby girl
they adopted at birth. Eventually they reconciled with Saro’s family just as he faced a
formidable cancer that would consume all their dreams. From Scratch chronicles three summers
Tembi spends in Sicily with her daughter Zoela as she begins to piece together a life without
her husband in his tiny hometown hamlet of farmers. Where once Tembi was estranged from Saro’s
family now she finds solace and nourishment—literally and spiritually—at her mother-in-law’s
table. In the Sicilian countryside she discovers the healing gifts of simple fresh food the
embrace of a close knit community and timeless traditions and wisdom that light a path
forward. All along the way she reflects on her and Saro’s romance—an incredible love story that
leaps off the pages. In Sicily it is said that every story begins with a marriage or a
death—in Tembi Locke’s case it is both. “Locke’s raw and heartfelt memoir will uplift readers
suffering from the loss of their own loved ones” ( Publishers Weekly ) but her story is also
about love finding a home and chasing flavor as an act of remembrance. From Scratch is for
anyone who has dared to reach for big love fought for what mattered most and those who needed
a powerful reminder that life is...delicious.
