Heart of the House

The kitchen chuckles, warm and comforting like an old grandmother. The earth shakes with joy at spring’s arrival. Food expresses deep-seated emotions. Trees scream and beetles appear in the presence of evil. Anxious storms emerge. Kate Kinloch is used to the world around her responding to life’s events and her emotions better than she does. It’s a normal occurrence ever since her father died when she was a young girl. After that, Kate’s life managed to continually darken. In fact, something terrible happened—worse than her father’s death, her mother’s alcoholism, and her abusive stepfather—causing part of her mind to shut down.

Now an adult, living on her inherited farm, Kate lives in her own little world, harvesting heirloom vegetables, creating mood-altering recipes, as she tries to mend what few relationships she has left. One is with her childhood best-friend, Easton, who she shared a kiss with after a funeral, and then avoided for a year, afraid to get too close. And the relationship with her older sister, Amy, needs some work too; Amy has been growing tired of Kate’s childish behavior. Both Easton and Amy push Kate to remember what happened so she can finally move on.