Title:	Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks
	Author:	Crystal Wilkinson
	Published:	January 23, 2024, Clarkson Potter
	No. of Pages:	256
	Cover Price:	$30.00 Hardcover, $14.99 Kindle

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Good recipes are most fun if they are shared, and even better if they are heirloom recipes from families. Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks . Crystal Wilkinson (who is a cook and an award winning poet), not only shares recipes from generations of her family who settled in Appalachia, but tells wonderful stories of the ancestors who prepared them. The stories are well-written, historical, and fascinating. Wilkinson has a gift and brings out the personalities of those who developed the recipes, making it seem like we are making recipes from beloved friends and relatives. According to Wilkinson, she feels her ancestors’ presence when she is making the recipes; readers should be so lucky.

The recipes represent southern cooking at the highest (and most delicious) level. The recipes are written in the traditional manner with the ingredients listed, followed by step-by-step instructions. This makes it easy for both beginning and advanced cooks to enjoy preparing and presenting the recipes to those they love to feed.

One of the best parts of this book is that there are beautiful photographs, not only of the people in the stories, but also of the mouthwatering recipes.

This is a book that most readers will want to curl up in a corner and read cover to cover. It is historical, and includes recipes that most of us will want to make. Readers will also fall in love with Wilkinson’s family and wish they were a part of it. Five well-earned stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.