Keeping Up with Magda

This is not a typical small town/ greasy spoon diner setting. The characters have great depth and Dewar explores and develops them wonderfully, at the same time avoiding both cliches and predictability. Jessie is leaving both a cosmoplitan life and a painful relationship to move to a small Scottish fising village, where she encounters Magda, the uncompromising gourmet chef of a modest cafe. Through numerous twists and philosophical musings, a fascinating story unfolds. Between the dialogue, dry humor, and food, I enjoyed every second that I spent in the Ocean Cafe. Entertaining, intelligent, and highly entertaining.

Read this after a trip to Scotland (I'm from the U.S.). We had visited a very old town with narrow streets and where my impression was everybody was in everybody else's business. This was a quick read which I enjoyed, perhaps because I had the visual context...

Jessie Tate leaves Edinburgh and a failing relationship for a village on the Fife coast. She comes across Magda owner of the Ocean Cafe who seems to have the roles of mother daughter and lover easily under control. Isla Dewar explores the intricacies of each of her characters and their foibles with a humanity and a dry Scottish wit that leaves you wiser and smiling.