Borrowed Light

I really enjoyed this book. It is LDS fiction but done in a way that leaves some surprises. The characters are well done and I loved the story. It is the kind of book that makes me sad to finish it and start a new one.

Julia Darling is practically an old maid. An accomplished old maid (a graduate of Miss Farmer’s Cookery School in Boston), but an unmarried young woman living in a culture that prizes marriage and family. She’s engaged but unwilling to set a wedding date and extremely unhappy. In a moment of pure impulse, she responds to an ad from a “longtime rancher” desperate to hire a cook, preferably one who graduated Miss Farmer’s Cooking School. When she gets the job, she begins the adventure of a lifetime.

Mr. Otto (Paul) believes he has just hired a “mature” cook to save him from eating terrible food and is not prepared for the beautiful young woman waiting for him on the train platform. He decides to give her a chance, despite some serious misgivings and the “trouble” she will undoubtedly cause him. And thus begins a beautiful story of two people learning to communicate, to overcome differences (the story of Julia’s first dinner for Mr. Otto and his ranch hands had me in stitches; it’s hilarious!), and to become friends who help one another through trials and growing pains. It’s a truly lovely romance.

Julia is impulsive and a bit too full of herself, but it sure does help her with navigating this tough new world she’s thrown herself into. She is charming and funny and I like the introspection she has throughout the book.

Paul is a really great hero. You just can’t find a better guy, if a bit stubborn. But the things he does throughout the book, the way he treats people, is truly admirable.

James is the sweetest! My heart just broke for him and his truly terrible circumstances, but once again, Mr Otto proves himself as he takes in this sweet boy and cares for him as though he were his own.
Doc, Matt Malloy, Willy Bill, and Kringle are a fun handful of characters.

Alice and Mr Marlowe, the Rudigers, and McLemore make for a fun lot to round out the Wyoming set.
Mama and Papa are great supporters of their daughter. I really loved them. Ezra Quayle has got to figure out how to show someone he loves them.
Brother & Sister Gillespie (Heber & Emma) are such fun. I love how they took Julia under their wing and willingly welcomed her into their home and lives. But I especially loved how they treated Paul.

A couple of quotes I loved from the book:

“‘I suppose no prospect is so dismal that soap and water will not help,’ [Julia] considered.
“She sat down and asked James if he wanted to ask the blessing this time. ‘Just thank the Lord for the food,’ she suggested when he frowned. | ‘Suppose I do it wrong?’ he asked. ‘Will He be angry? | ‘No. I think He just gets sad when we don’t appreciate what we have.’ | He carefully laced his fingers together and bowed his head. ‘It smells so good, Lord,’ he said, after considerable thought. ‘Supper is a great idea,’ he concluded.”

“‘So you’re guilty of feeding hungry people.” He leaned back then, regarding her from more of a distance, as though assessing her. ‘I’d bet my best horse that you told them you were trying out that cooking range and had to do something with all that old food lying around.’ He laughed—he could read her expression like a book. ‘That’s what I thought!’”

Because this is a book about a girl going to cook for a rancher and his hands, there is a lot of talk of food. I kept a list of all the foods Julia ended up cooking throughout the book, and for the sake of kicks and giggles, I’m sharing it here as part of my review.

Coffee
Pears
Cheese
Crackers
Fried eggs
Sausage links
Ham chowder
Cornstarch cake (uses 5 eggs)
Snow cake (uses 2 egg whites)
White Mountain Cream Frosting
Confectioners frosting
Oatmeal with cinnamon
Maraschino cherries
Bananas
Cloves
Cake with cherries and chocolate
Bread & rolls
Stew
Baked Apples
Milk
Pancakes with butter and maple syrup
Connecticut chowder
Split pea soup with ham chunks
Trout (cod)
Farina with raisins
Roast beef and baked beans
Cream cake
Mashed potatoes
Watercress soup (cream of watercress soup)
Toasted cheese
Treacle loaf (with nutmeg and cinnamon)
Hot chocolate
Steak
Hash browns
Duchess potatoes (mashed potatoes, 3 eggs, formed with pastry bag and flower tip)
String bean salad (beans doused in French dressing, arranged like a bonfire surrounded by croutons)
Warm liver salad with perry vinegar dressing
Steak, fried, medium rare (lots of red, but no moo)
Queen cake with opera caramel frosting (ornamental frosting)
Biscuits (baking powder biscuits)
Bow-knot rolls (dainty and pretty)
Potatoes en Surprise (fried potato nests with peas in cream sauce)
Beefsteak with an oyster blanket
Hash browns (real thin and crispy)
Fried chicken (grouse)
White gravy over mashed potatoes
Peas (with no creamy stuff)
Apple pie
Flapjacks (with butter oozing our and maple syrup in rivers)
Saleratus biscuits
Fried fish
“Julia had a meal waiting for them that she knew no one would question: beefsteak broiled, not fried; mashed potatoes so fluffy that Matt Malloy put down his fork and sighed; apples stewed with cinnamon and butter; biscuits so light that Willy Bill cupped his hands over the four on his plate (‘So they won’t fly away’); and deviled eggs that made Doc sit back with an entirely satisfied expressions and murmur something about ‘home in Indiana.’ Even Kringle smiled, which astonished the other hands.”
Scalloped turkey
Tomato jelly salad
Raspberry ice from copper mold in icebox
Wedding cake
Buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup
Cecils (minced beef, rolled I breadcrumbs, eggs, flour, deep fried)
Baked beans
Cream of wheat, well-sugared
Walnut quick bread
Lady fingers
“Tea” (hot water with a sprig of mint)
Chicken and Dumplings
Stewed tomatoes with toasty bits of bread
Oatmeal
Ham
Dried apple pie
Roast with small potatoes
Canned green beans seasoned with bacon
Sour milk biscuits
Prune whip served with cold custard sauce
Gooey butter cake
Warm milk with cinnamon and nutmeg
Popcorn with butter and salt
Cinnamon rolls
Raisin pie
Canned beans and Vienna sausages
Biscuits with butter& honey
Welsh rarebit
Iced cookies
Applesauce pound cake
Pork chops
Chocolate covered maraschino cherries
Black olive and pimento sandwich
French Apple pie

(Type of shoe I hadn’t heard of before: Brogans)