The Ladies of the Book Club

Last week I met with a book club for the first time since the October publication of The Forager Chefs Club. My friend and amazing professional photographer, Mary Ford Parker, arranged for The Forager Chefs Club to be the January read for her book club and invited me to her home to meet the ladies and answer their questions. I was delighted to accept but, I will admit, more than a little apprehensive. What if they didn't like my book or worse, couldn't even manage to get all the way through it? 

My first hint that I needn't worry was when Mary asked if I had any additional hardcover copies on hand that I could bring. On the appointed morning, I packed up a box of books, tasseled bookmarks, and a couple of Sharpies. I took a deep breath and headed to my car. 

In a nutshell, the time I spent with these nine ladies was amazing and humbling. In true forest-to-fork, farm-to-fork fashion, Mary prepared a brunch spread of foraged delights harvested from her garden and the farmers markets before the cold weather settled in. My favorite was the poached pears with dried fruit in a marvelous, light syrup. In true The Forager Chefs Club fashion, she had three ingredient exceptions that made up her light, moist muffins. 

The ladies and I talked about how my characters came into being, the arc of the plot, "deleted scenes", what forest-to-fork encompasses, and more. I loved hearing which character they had rooted to win the competition--it was a good mix!--and how the book inspired them to perhaps try some new foraged ingredients in their own kitchens once winter lets loose its hold.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Mary Parker, Alice Knudsen, Tricia O'Connell, Kelly Bradley, Kathy Murphy, Mary Ann Glennon, Sharon Rindfleisch, Isabel Fiolek, and Lucinda Michell. You have no idea what your generous welcome meant to me. 

For anyone else who is part of a book club, please consider adding The Forager Chefs Club to your reading list! I'd love to join you--either in person or virtually--to answer any questions you may have about it and share the love of local, seasonal living through farm-to-fork and forest-to-fork cooking and eating!

And for those of you in the northern Virginia area, I'll be at the Williams Gap Vineyard for their Book Fair on Saturday, January 25th from noon to 4 pm. What could be better than award-winning wine and reading?

Meeting Inspiration Face-to-Face

For my birthday, I got to meet the creator of my inspiration. 

In the Acknowledgements section of my novel, The Forager Chefs Club, I share that the idea for the book came from a dinner my husband, Tim, and I shared during a 2019 trip to Quebec City and the restaurant Légende. The ethos of Légende is "A tribute to our ancestors. A return to our roots. A thought on culinary history, from the first nations to today." This takes forest-to-fork, farm-to-fork, and foraging to a completely elevated level. It was during that 2019 dinner that, upon learning there was nothing in the kitchen that could not be sourced within 50 miles of it, Tim and I talked about what a unique cooking competition it would be to have it limited to only what was seasonal and locally sourced. A true foraging adventure. And the idea for The Forager Chefs Club was born.

Tim and I visited Quebec City for my Winter Solstice birthday this past month and were delighted to learn that Légende not only survived Covid, but is thriving and still "highlighting the richness of Quebec's regions, offering a creative and original tasting approach that celebrates our terroir." We booked a table for my birthday, and I brought two copies of my novel, hoping I might have the opportunity to meet the creative genius behind Légende, Chef Elliot Beaudoin.

Our five-course dinner was inventive, beyond delicious, and with surprising details – coal-seared halibut, for instance! The bison hanger steak with a honey and smoked tomato glaze, fermented sunchokes, and a boreal spices broth was one of the best main courses I've ever had the pleasure to eat. One of the most inventive courses was dessert, which featured boreal "chocolate": a charcoal tomato and cranberry concoction that I swear to you tastes like a fruity chocolate mousse.  "Boreal" features strongly in the Légende cuisine – forest-to-fork ingredients specific to the temperate forested region south of the Arctic circle.

Chef Elliot's cuisine is minimalism with finesse. It looks like art and tastes heavenly. I got to meet Chef near the end of our meal when he was able to spare a few minutes from his very busy kitchen. It was definitely the highlight of my birthday! He was gracious and engaging and seemed truly interested in the copy of The Forager Chefs Club that I brought him. (The second copy I brought went to our server, Max, who had asked to read a few pages.) 

My first meal at Légende inspired me to write The Forager Chefs Club. My second meal there, and meeting its amazing chef in person, has inspired me to share my novel's core message of foraging, cooking, and eating seasonally and locally with as many people as I can. If you share that ethos or want to explore it, I hope you'll consider spending some time with The Forager Chefs Club. 

And I heartily recommend a visit to Quebec City and Légende! I know that Tim and I will be back.

Bootstrap Marketing and the Power of a Review

Marketing a novel—particularly when you’re published by a small “indie” house rather than one of the “big five”—is a bootstrap endeavor. It turns out writing The Forager Chefs Club was only the start of the creative work necessary to make it a success. 

With so many books out there vying for what little time people can devote to reading, reviews are particularly important. While my “TBR” (to-be-read) book stack continues to grow, I don’t think I’ve ever bought a novel without reading the synopsis and what other people had to say about it. But unlike ads or blog posts or other ways of getting the word out about your book, an author has absolutely no control over what people write in a review. Which is why they can be so powerful. 

I received my copy of this week’s Publishers Weekly. It’s their “Best Books of 2024” issue and the BookLife review of The Forager Chefs Club is in it. As you might recall from an earlier blog post, I got word of the review—and that my novel had been selected as an “editor’s pick”—in September, but holding the magazine in my hand and seeing it in actual print… Well, that’s a whole ‘nother level of gratitude. Here’s a snippet of what they had to say:

"Walston's epically delicious second novel summons readers to a table piled with purpose, twists, and, of course, a passion for food. Precise and sumptuous dish descriptions prove just as enticing and involving as the character portraits, making this feast for the senses one readers will fall in love with and revisit to have their souls and hearts nourished." 

You can read the whole review here. I can’t get that one added to the actual book, but I am grateful to the very accomplished authors who have given me reviews, including this one by New York Times best-selling author J. Ryan Stradal:

"The Forager Chefs Club has everything I love in a novel: complex characters, beautifully described settings, a ton of heart and empathy, and incredible food. Curl up with this one by the fire and enjoy." 

And what Warren Buffet is to finance, Samuel Thayer is to foodie foraging. He wrote this about The Forager Chefs Club:

"What a treat—it's not often that foragers get to see our pastime realistically depicted in a work of fiction. I had to stay up late in my hammock reading by moonlight just to find out how the threads of all five forager chefs were tied together in the end." 

To my readers who have provided a review on Amazon and GoodReads, thank you so much! 

Getting the word out about The Forager Chefs Club is a work in progress. I’m lining up some book signing events and seeking out opportunities to connect with those of us who love forest-to-fork and farm-to-fork cooking. If you have any ideas for me, please let me know!