Didn’t You Used to Be Queenie B. exceeded my expectations! I liked the concept, but how Terri-Lynne DeFino writes this story kept me engaged in listening to the audio version in the car in front of the house. Eva Kaminsky did a nice job with the narration.
Gale Carmichael lives with his childhood friend, Kyle and a couple of other roommates, two years sober after a serious incident that left another close childhood friend, Sean dead. Gale is working his way up the prep line in a well-regarded Italian restaurant in New Haven Connecticut. Money is tight and he accepts no financial help from his folks who are happy he’s alive but underwhelmed by his career choice. Gale went to culinary school and it is obvious to us early on that he has a certain something.
Regina is a wealthy woman who has settled into a marginal neighborhood in New Haven, her hometown. She operates a neighborhood soup kitchen and developed a close relationship with some of her regulars who help out for twenty bucks. There is something she has left behind. She is partly making amends and partly finding out how to be her authentic self. Her food, while simple, is outstanding. Because, it turns out, Regina was once a famous television chef and highly respected restauranteur, so successful that she continues to earn royalties from the products she spun off and reruns of her programs. She was Queenie B. But nobody knows her now. She does not venture into neighborhoods where she might meet old acquaintances and she so loathed New Haven, they would not think to look for her there. Most people assume she’s dead.
And then, one day, Gale agrees to eat at the soup kitchen with Kyle because he’s earning less due to an injury. And over time, without knowing her secret, he connects with Regina. Throughout this lovely, novel of humanity in all its permutations, people who are suffering, no matter their backgrounds, grow and get close and begin to figure out their lives. I thought it was beautifully written and that Gale’s character, with his complex issues relating to his trauma, addiction and his better self trying to stay on top was particularly well written.
They Called me Bookworm 