That Part Was True

McKinlay’s latest (after 2011’s The View From Here) finds a bestselling American novelist connecting with one of his British fans as he nears his 50th birthday and she anticipates her daughter’s wedding. Jackson Cooper, who fancies himself a man’s man, lashes out at the women around him after his wife leaves him for a woman. He’s suffering from writer’s block and the feeling that he hasn’t penned anything important. Jack has turned his creative impulses toward cooking, but the beautiful, well-meaning vegetarian he’s dating doesn’t appreciate any of it. He shares his love of food with Eve Petworth, whose mean late mother, Virginia, still casts a shadow over her life in the form of Eve’s brash daughter Izzy, whom Virginia raised. When an engaged-to-be-married Izzy contacts her estranged father Simon, it exacerbates Eve’s anxiety disorder. Both Eve and Jack are idle and rich, as evidenced by their free time and many mentions of their maids cleaning up in the background. They romanticize one another and claim that their meager letters and recipe exchanges serve as stress relief. Jack tries to get Eve to meet him in Paris every now and then, but unbeknownst to him, her condition prevents it. Readers will appreciate the way McKinlay captures emotional truths, but the puerility of her protagonists often hinders enjoyment. (Feb.)