MONTVALE, N.J.—Joseph and Josephine Morelli came to America from Italy in 1907 with their three young children and a secret that would go undiscovered for 80 years. Through four generations the family ran a restaurant while dealing with depressions, recessions, drought, disease, allegations, investigations, and murder—their own seven plagues. To survive, they had to cook up a lot more than the daily specials.
Sometimes, the best kept secrets are best kept for good reason.
So begins the promotional material for “Let the Sauce Simmer: A Novel. Not a Cookbook,” the debut novel of Montvale’s Tim Davis, who knows his way around history, kitchens, and evocative and persuasive writing.
“While the novel is fiction, it is based loosely on real life experiences of a family that owned and operated an Italian restaurant in Geneva, New York—the setting for the story. Despite the subtitle the book really did start out as a cookbook in honor of my late mother, Adelaide ‘Addie’ Davis, a truly world class chef,” Davis told Pascack Press last week.
“But somewhere between Alfredo and zuppa, my imagination got the better of me. Like most novels, ‘Let the Sauce Simmer’ is rooted in some perception of the truth, but for the most part this novel is purely a product of my imagination and intuition,” he said.
Davis, a journalist and diehard Yankees fan, has been a professional writer for more than 40 years, “mostly B2B stuff.” He said he’s interviewed many captains of global industry, written for and about some of the world’s most iconic companies and brands, helped both his children pen their college essays, “and authored hundreds of touching and witty birthday, anniversary, and Valentine notes” to his wife.
“Writing for a living always got in the way of writing for fun. Finishing this novel has been on my bucket list for as long as I’ve had a bucket list,” he said.
And in a rhetorical flourish we have to respect, he said, “Getting my book mentioned in Pascack Press is also on my bucket list.” We are absolutely with him on the enthusiasm.
The book is listed on Amazon under the Humorous Fiction category. We’re reading the book now and find it’s well worth our recommendation. From the opening lines of the prologue the reader is swept along on the tide of history and reaching America in time for the adventure of several lifetimes.
“This book is the story of all the people who came to this country for the promise of a better life, but wound up realizing the grass is not always greener on the other side,” said Davis.
He added, “They could have been butchers or bakers or candlestick makers, but they all had the same crosses to bear.”
An appetizer for the table:
After the mass, Goodman saw Edie standing on the curb waiting for a car to take her to Saint Patrick’s Cemetery. It was a snowy March morning; Edie was shivering. Goodman gave her a hug and wrapped his white silk scarf softly around her neck. “You don’t want to catch cold. You could lose your voice. No one would be happy about that,” he whispered. That scarf remained in Edie’s house for as long as she lived there.
“Let the Sauce Simmer: A novel. Not a cookbook” by Tim Davis
Publisher is LifeRich Publishing, an imprint of Reader’s Digest, Bloomington, Indiana. 208 pages; softcover $14.99, ebook $4.99. Cover design is by Bruce Crilly. It’s available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all major book sellers and bookstores.