From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home
4.5 | 5,243 ratings
Price: 17.05
Last update: 02-01-2026
Product details
- Listening Length : 10 hours and 17 minutes
- Author : Tembi Locke
- Narrator : Tembi Locke
- Publication date : April 30, 2019
- Language : English
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster Audio
- ASIN : B07M7KYG6X
- Version : Unabridged
- Program Type : Audiobook
- Best Sellers Rank:#2,845 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
- general Italy Travel Guides
- Europe Travel & Tourism
- Biographies of Culinary Professionals
- Customer Reviews:4.54.5 out of 5 stars(5,243)
Top reviews from the United States
- AbbyGut-wrenchingly beautiful and sadA heartbreaking memoir about incredible love, tremendous loss, and leaning on the comforts of family and food to survive.
While studying abroad in Italy, Tembi meets Saro. Their relationship flourishes quickly and their epic love affair begins in the streets of Florence. In LA, they make a life together. It’s clouded by the knowledge that Saro’s parents don’t support his marriage to Tembi - a Black American. Saro’s rare cancer diagnosis is the beginning of their end. When he dies, Tembi must learn how to survive - for herself and for her daughter. The unexpected comforts of Saro’s Sicilian hometown, his mother, and her authentic cooking help net navigate grief and the vast possibilities of life after Saro.
This book is amazing - so heartbreaking and wonderfully written. The structure is uniquely dynamic, and Locke’s life stories are exceptionally interesting. Books that make me cry are my favorite, and this one made me weep. In particular, Locke’s descriptions of Saro’s final days left me breathless. A very compelling theme, belonging, is prevalent throughout the novel. Neither Tembi or her daughter are white or Sicilian, so they stick out like a sore thumb on their visits. Do they belong in Sicily or this family when Saro is no longer around to bridge the gap? Locke also plays with the connection between food, comfort, and growth quite a lot - it welcomes guests, cures sadness, and nourishes the body like nothing else can. Deeply symbolic and equally mouth-watering, I love this aspect of the book. From Scratch is such a special memoir. Beautifully written and exceptionally heartbreaking, I think it will touch your heart as it has mine. - Jennifer R.Love and ItalyThis book is a beautiful memoir about an American woman and an Italian man. It is about their love and resilience during the good and bad of life. I love Italy so that really drew me in. The cooking part is great also.
I would have given it a five but at times it lagged and it could have been shorter. The development of relationships among the characters was compelling. This book is like a simmering pot of pasta sauce. It takes time to develop its depth of flavor. I do get impatient so maybe it's more me than the style of writing that wishes it moved a bit faster. I did love the ending. It would be great to see how the author 's life moved forward in the future. Congrats on a great book and my condolences on your loss. I hope you find love once again ... the romantic kind! - LillianThe most filling, heart warming, cozy read in a long while...I LOVED this book. Yes it’s heart wrenching and sad at times but it’s also uplifting, beautiful, makes you think in a more expansive way. I didn’t devour this book like I would a thriller, yes, you know what happens, her beloved husband dies. However, I relished in this book. It was cozy, filling, like a piece of chocolate that you take your time tasting or a glass of wine that is so good you don’t want to drink it too fast. There were times I read and reread a sentence or paragraph because I just wanted to let the words linger. Beautifully written, wows for a debut book, and I highly recommend if you like memoir, complex family relationships, travel or love stories. The way she put love into action by showing up in Sicily summer after summer, it’s just stunning. Read it!
- Beth BHeartwarming Memoir of big love and big lossSPOLIER ALERT: Tembi Locke's memoir is stunning! Her and Saro's love story is real, raw, beautiful, painful and even redemptive. (Redemptive in the ways that Tembi and her mother-in-law grow close after the loss of Saro.) This story delighted me in so many ways, with the rich foods, beautiful landscapes of Sicily, complicated family relationships. It also gutted me to read of their painful cancer journey, as patient and caregiver. This is the BEST book I've read in many years...and I read A LOT.
I would give it more than 5 stars if that was an option. I also enjoyed the NetFlix series, but not as much as the book. - MonaDI was expecting more.I’m so sorry, I wanted to love this book as my hereditary is Sicilian, but I didn’t. To me this was a journal of healing and discovery. I felt so sorry for Tembe, but I just didn’t want to go so completely through her self-discovery. I loved her time with her husband, Saro, and I would have liked more of their love story.
What she wrote about them was beautiful. I guess I just didn’t want him to die. But what bothered me most was that the book went and forth between past and present. It was a little confusing to me since there was no real break in the writing. A paragraph would end in one time and the next would be the other.
I loved her family. How close they were and there’s for her. His family as well, those were the parts I liked. For me, the best parts were her time with her mother-in-law. Two women who didn’t communicate but learned to love and accept each other.
I hope Tembe keeps the home in Sicily and goes there as often as possible to be one with that town, the people, and the culture. - Dr. Kechia V Warren-JosephWonderful!!!I absolutely LOVED this book!! It was brilliantly written, it flowed well and it kept me wanting to read more and more!! This is our September book club selection (Sister, Sister! Book Club - Houston, TX). I am excited about the discussions we will have. I think each of us can relate to different aspects of the book - the loss, the love, the sense of family. I feel like I know this family based on how well each was developed in the story.
I have felt every emotion from start to finish. I cried a lot, tears of joy and Pain. I have visited Sicily once during a cruise, but this book gave me so much insight about the people of Sicily. The sense of community and loyalty seems unparalleled with today. I want to go back with a different set of eyes. Aubrey proved to be the BEST stepmother one could have, I loved her support and love for Tembi. Nonna stole my heart!! She is an amazing person - everything rolled into one. I love her!!! Great book Tembi. I am so glad that Saro stood in that rain waiting for you!!