Will This Make You Happy - by Tanya Bush (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A hybrid memoir and cookbook about one transformative year of desire, indulgence, and dessert. With pith and passion, Tanya tells the story of how she turned the kitchen into a makeshift therapy couch, where baking is an act of self-love and the endless pursuit for excellence and precision is superseded by the pursuit of simple pleasures"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

"Will This Make You Happy is an ode to the wild pleasures of transformation . . . I gulped it down, eager for every last crumb."--Leslie Jamison, bestselling author of Make it Scream, Make it Burn

"Beautiful--smart, funny and effortlessly lyrical." --Ruby Tandoh, bestselling author of Cook As You Are

"This is an entirely different kind of cookbook, one that makes you want to curl up and read cover to cover. I loved it."--Sohla El-Waylly, James Beard Award winner and author of the bestselling cookbook Start Here

For fans of Nora Ephron and Nigel Slater, this hybrid memoir and cookbook brings together over fifty inventive baking recipes with a lyrical coming-of-age story about desire and dessert. Perfect for home cooks, lovers of literature, and anyone who finds comfort in the kitchen.

Tanya Bush is adrift in the uncertainty of her early twenties--unemployed, uninspired, and stuck in a long-term relationship that's lost its spark. One day, just to do something, she decides to bake a cake. It's gooey in the center, woefully underbaked, an absolute disaster--but it also reminds her of the pleasures of baking: sugar crystals under her fingernails, flour in her hair, and the hard-earned satisfaction of following the steps of a recipe to the end.

Over the course of a year, Tanya embarks on a journey that carries her from her tiny apartment to the sunlit kitchens of an Italian agriturismo to the basement of a bustling Brooklyn bakery, where she rediscovers her appetite for pleasure, indulgence, and meaningful work.

A culinary memoir and love story, interwoven with over fifty innovative and approachable baking recipes, Will This Make You Happy is for readers and bakers looking for something messier, more experimental, and honest than the typical aspirational cookbook.

COMPELLING NARRATIVE: From the co-founder of the James Beard-nominated literary magazine Cake Zine, pastry chef at Little Egg, and contributing writer for the New York Times T Magazine, this part propulsive and witty coming-of-age story, part baking book is as satisfying to read as it is to cook from. It's meant to be devoured curled up on the couch or with the mixer whirring in the kitchen.

FLEXIBLE RECIPES: The recipes in the book are designed to be mixed, matched, and adapted to the season. Whether you're a new baker or an improvisational one, Will This Make You Happy encourages play and experimentation. Featuring recipes for Neapolitan Pavlova, Hojicha Tiramisu, Blueberry Jam Corn Muffins, Dark Chocolate and Toasted Coconut Birthday Cake, Cardamom Crullers, and more.

A BEAUTIFUL GIFT: With lush full-color illustrations by Forsyth Harmon and striking photographs, this book lives equally well on the kitchen counter, nightstand, or coffee table.

Perfect for:

• Fans of food-themed books and memoirs
• Dessert lovers
• First-time bakers and seasoned bakers
• Readers of contemporary literature and personal narrative

Review Quotes

"Will This Make You Happy is an ode to the wild pleasures of transformation--how sugar and heat become sustenance, how a psychic flatline shivers upward into curiosity and hope. I gulped it down, eager for every last crumb--and will be grateful for its gospel of mess and care for the rest of my days."

--Leslie Jamison, New York Times bestselling author of Splinters and Make it Scream, Make it Burn

"In what feels like literary magic, Tanya Bush bakes every element of taste, every sensation of sweet, salty, bitter and sour into her recipes and, most enticingly, into her stories. We follow her through a year of cookies and clafoutis, of confusion, love, infatuation and disappointment, of discovery and pleasure. It's the stuff of a real life. That we ride the ups and downs with Bush, feel the dizziness and the joy, and see her world through her sharp eye, is a measure of her talent: She is such a good writer."

--Dorie Greenspan, five-time James Beard Award winner

"Beautiful--smart, funny, and effortlessly lyrical. Lots of books capture the romance of the kitchen, and lots address the emotional knots of cooking and eating, but Will This Make You Happy does both. It reminds me of so many writers whose work I love and return to and have learned from. Assured and brilliant."

--Ruby Tandoh, bestselling and award-winning author of Cook As You Are and Eat Up!

"This is an entirely different kind of cookbook, one that makes you want to curl up and read cover to cover. That is, until you're overcome by the urge to bake a brown butter buckwheat madeleine or Neapolitan pavlova. Once in the kitchen, with Tanya's luminous prose and gentle instruction, you can bake your way to catharsis. I loved it."

--Sohla El-Waylly, James Beard Award winner and author of the New York Times best-selling cookbook Start Here

"For fans of Nigel Slater and Sally Rooney, this lushly illustrated and gorgeously photographed cookbook/love story is for anyone who has wished the head notes of a recipe also detailed the myriad desires and failures that went into each bite."

--Catherine Lacey, author of Biography of X and The Möbius Book

"In loving and tender prose, Tanya Bush writes honestly and lyrically about finding one's way through life's downs and ups, through depression and desire. Her recipes will make you happy: unfussy, resourceful, and comforting all at once. Forsyth Harmon's accompanying illustrations are magical."

--Rachel Khong, New York Times bestselling author of Real Americans

About the Author

Tanya Bush is a Brooklyn-based writer and baker. She is the co-founder of Cake Zine, the pastry chef for Tables of Contents and the Brooklyn-based restaurant Little Egg, where her cruller was named NY Mag's Best Pastry. She is the founder of the popular Instagram account @will.this.make.me.happy and is a contributing writer to T: The New York Times Style Magazine. She has an MFA in creative writing from Hunter College.

Forsyth Harmon is the author and illustrator of Justine. She is also the illustrator of Sweet Nothings by Sarah Perry, the national bestseller Girlhood by Melissa Febos, and The Art of the Affair by Catherine Lacey.