The Cookbook of Common Prayer

When Gill and Gabe's elder son drowns overseas, they decide they must hide the truth from their desperately unwell teenaged daughter. But as Gill begins to send letters from her dead son to his sister, the increasingly elaborate lie threatens to prove more dangerous than the truth.

A novel about family, food, grief, and hope, this gripping, lyrical story moves between Tasmania and London, exploring the many ways that a family can break down - and the unexpected ways that it can be put back together.



Francesca Haig grew up in Tasmania and is an academic and writer, whose poetry and YA/crossover fantasy have been widely published. She lives in London with her husband and son.



Sometimes, books come along that have such an unassuming elegance about them, and this is one. Told from multiple voices following a family tragedy, the different viewpoints make this such an interesting read. One to savour long after you have turned the last page.



Gill Jordan is at home in Tasmania, writing recipes, because that is what she does. Gabe is in England for the inquest into the death of their son, Dougie, drowned in a flooded cave. Daughter Sylvie is anorexic, fragile, so can't be told, and lies are spinning out of control. Read with a box of Kleenex.



What a devastatingly honest - and brilliant - book this is. Its portrayal of grief and the absurdity of death - the bizarre, unfathomable fact that someone just isn't there anymore - are simply incredible. Earth-shatteringly raw and resonant, it's a book that will break your heart and heal it. [...] The story reels and swerves to a truly edge-of-your-seat, hold-your-breath conclusion. While the family's pain and grief are always tangible, the buds of healing are too. What a book.