This reading group guide for Georgia's Kitchen includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Jenny Nelson. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book. 

 

INTRODUCTION

Georgia Gray’s life seems close to perfect; she’s head chef at a trendy New York restaurant, recently engaged to her handsome lawyer boyfriend, and on the verge of getting a career-making three-fork review from one of the city’s toughest critics. But when her sleazy boss makes a disastrous decision, Georgia finds herself trying to hang on to her credibility as a chef while her personal life crumbles. Suddenly unemployed and unengaged, Georgia picks herself up, packs her bags, and moves to Tuscany, where she helps her mentor, a renowned chef, open a new trattoria. The breathtaking scenery and delectable food help clear her head, the success of Trattoria Dia rebuilds her confidence, and romance with a sexy vineyard owner helps heal her heart. But Georgia realizes she can’t stay in Italy forever, and when the summer ends, she returns home to the city she loves, determined to make good on her dream and open her very own restaurant.

 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. The novel begins and ends in New York, yet Georgia has been on “a long journey with more twists and kinks than her hair after a hot summer day at the beach.” (p. 172) Compare the early version of Georgia with the woman she is by the end of the novel. Do you feel she has changed? In what ways?

2. After Georgia confronts Glenn about his cocaine use, he leaves her, first temporarily, and then for good. What might have happened if he hadn’t broken up with her? Would she have left him?

3. At Georgia’s urging, Glenn quits doing coke and cleans up his act. While she is clearly the catalyst for his change, a drug-free Glenn decides that he doesn’t want to marry her. Have you ever helped someone through a difficult time only to find that your relationship suffered or changed as a result?

4. Georgia’s best friend Clem says, “. . . no one knows what will make them truly happy until they find it.” (p. 100) Do you agree with this statement? Support your argument using other characters from the novel, or even examples from your own life.

5. Though we never meet Grammy, she is an important character in the novel and, in many ways, Georgia’s role model. Discuss Georgia’s relationship with Grammy versus her relationship with Dorothy. Is a grandmother-granddaughter relationship sometimes easier to navigate than a mother-daughter relationship? Why or why not?

6. Dorothy and Georgia’s relationship isn’t an easy one, to say the least. From what do you think the tension stems? Are Dorothy’s expectations for her daughter fair? Do they take into account the kind of person Georgia is or the kind of person Dorothy wishes Georgia were? Conversely, is Georgia too hard on Dorothy? Does she expect too much from her mother?

7. According to Georgia, neither Clem nor Lo will ever “get what it felt like to grow up in a household where you were a third wheel to your parents” (p. 99) the way that Georgia does. “Her parents were like two teenagers in love, even after almost thirty-five years of marriage.” (p. 50) How does her parents’ tight relationship affect Georgia? How does it shape her relationships with men? Has your parents’ relationship had an impact on your own relationships?

8. When Georgia first meets Sergio, he says, “We used to care more about family. Friends. Life. Now we care about success. Money.” (p. 126) How true do you find this statement? How true is it in regard to Claudia? In regard to the other characters in the book?

9. Claudia tells Georgia to “Stop looking for what you don’t have, and start seeing what you do.” (p. 151) Do you think Georgia has learned how to do this by the end of the book? Is this something that people often forget to do in their daily lives? Can you think of an instance where that advice helped (or could have helped) you?

10. Georgia’s Kitchen has a cast of strong, supporting female characters. Think about all the different women who influence Georgia’s life. What does Georgia learn from each of these women at various points throughout the novel? What do you think they learn from her? Think about the women who play important roles in your own life. What have you learned from them?

11. Georgia has three significant romances over the course of the book: Glenn, Gianni, and Andrew. Discuss the impact each relationship, and each man, has on her and the choices she makes. Which of these men do you think is best suited for Georgia?

12. The title of the novel is Georgia’s Kitchen. Discuss the significance in relation to the story. What does Georgia learn in the kitchen? Out of the kitchen? Why is it so important for her to have her own kitchen in her own restaurant?

13. Perhaps the most important lesson Georgia learns is that while “it’s okay to be alone . . . it’s okay to ask for help.” (p. 254) Do you think she would have succeeded in opening Nana’s Kitchen without Bernard as her partner? Is her success any less meaningful because she shares it with Bernard? Have you ever had to choose between doing something on your own or asking for help in your own life?

14. At the end of the novel, Georgia reflects that even without a husband or a baby “. . . she was exactly where she wanted to be. Right there at Nana’s Kitchen.” (p. 319) Does Georgia’s happiness resonate with you? Does working hard to achieve a goal make the end result more meaningful? Is there something you’ve worked hard to accomplish in your own life that made you feel the way Georgia does about Nana’s Kitchen?

 

ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB

1. Georgia is determined to create Trattoria Dia’s signature dish and, with a little help from Bruno, she succeeds. Have a book club banquet by asking each member to create their own signature dish and bring it to the gathering.

2. Tuscany and Sicily are important settings in Georgia’s Kitchen. Have each member do some research on either place and share what they discover with the group.

3. If Georgia’s Kitchen were made into a movie, whom would you cast?

 

A CONVERSATION WITH JENNY NELSON

What inspired you to write Georgia’s Kitchen?

I’ve always been fascinated by the inner workings of restaurants and the people who make them tick. It’s amazing how a calm, well-run dining room reflects none of the craziness and drama taking place in the cramped, hot kitchen, just inches away. As my ideas about Georgia and the book’s overall themes began to crystallize, I knew that she had to be a chef. I could visualize her in the kitchen, see how she would act, react, carry herself. No other career encapsulated who she was in the same way.

 

What was the general experience of writing a novel like for you?

I started writing Georgia’s Kitchen as a stay-at-home mom. What began as a short story morphed into a first chapter (completely different from the one in the book) and when I was about fifty pages in, I knew that I wouldn’t stop until I’d completed a novel. It was thrilling to see those pages mounting, and even more thrilling when I started getting positive feedback, because for a while I was really writing in a vacuum, not sure whether anything I’d written was any good. Once I’d completed it, I found my agent and soon after sold the book. I’m still amazed at how things unfolded.

 

You really bring your settings to life, be it the beauty of San Casciano, the rush of New York City, or the heat inside a top restaurant’s kitchen. You currently live in New York, but have you spent a significant amount of time in Italy? Did you need to do much research for the settings of your book—other than eat great Italian food?

I’m lucky to have spent a good bit of time in Italy, all over, really, but mainly in Tuscany. My husband and I were married in Fiesole, at a villa that once belonged to Dante Alighieri (if this feels familiar it’s because Georgia reflects on a wedding she and Glenn attended that sounds suspiciously like ours). In addition to relying on my own experiences, I did a lot of research on Tuscany and Sicily—on the architecture, the landscape and, obviously, the food and wine. As for food, New York is filled with incredible Italian restaurants, and I make it a point to eat at as many as possible, which is no great hardship! My mother-in-law, who grew up in Milan and still spends a lot of time there, was able to help with all the Italian translations.

 

There are great descriptions of meal preparations in the book. Do you cook? What was the inspiration for the signature dish Georgia creates for Trattoria Dia?

I love to cook, but with twin six-year-old daughters, sometimes it’s more about getting dinner on the table than preparing a fabulous new recipe I’ve discovered. Luckily, they’re both good eaters and will try just about anything, so I do get to be a little more experimental at times. Italian food is my absolute favorite to make—I love how forgiving it is, and how it all begins with good, basic ingredients. As for the signature dish, I wanted it to be vegetarian, and because I would happily eat risotto for the rest of my life, I thought it’d be fun to come up with something that was a riff on a traditional risotto.

 

You provide a lot of detail about each character’s sense of style, as well as passing references to various designer clothing and accessories (such as the scene where Clem and Lo are talking about different types of jeans). As you wrote, did you find that the way you visualized the outward appearance of each character reflected a lot about their personalities?

Absolutely. I had a lot of fun figuring out how each character would look and what he or she would choose to wear. Often, when I was creating a character, I would see them for the first time and know exactly what kind of shoes they would wear, how they’d want their jeans to fit, how they’d style their hair, if they’d wear makeup or jewelry.

 

Who are your writing influences and what are you currently reading?

I read anything and everything. I just finished Wolf Hall (I’m obsessed with the Tudors), loved The Help, Olive Kitteridge, and Unaccustomed Earth—Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my favorite writers. I also love the classics—The Great Gatsby, The House of Mirth, and anything by Jane Austen. I’ll pick up pretty much any novel or collection of stories, but nonfiction is a harder sell for me.

 

Many authors find that their characters are extensions of themselves, in one way or another. Do you find that to be true? Are any of the characters in Georgia’s Kitchen based on people you know?

None of the characters are pure extensions of anyone I know. This isn’t to say that certain characters don’t borrow traits or characteristics from people I know, but that’s really the extent of it. I did enjoy throwing in elements from my own life (such as the wedding) or the name of the bar where Georgia and Bernard decide to partner (the F&A, named for the way it sounds and also for my daughters Flora and Ava), but you’d have to read really closely and know me really well to pick up on most of these!

 

The complicated relationship between Georgia and her parents is central to the development of the novel, and a theme that most people can relate to. What made you decide to write a character that was closer to her grandmother than her mother? Was it based on personal experience?

Because I have great relationships with both of my parents, I thought it would be interesting to explore a parent/child dynamic that was fraught with tension and disappointment. So often the intentions are good, as I believe Georgia’s, Dorothy’s, and Hal’s are, and yet actions and words can easily undermine these good intentions. Having had two wonderful grandmothers, both of whom lived well into their nineties, I know how important grandmotherly love can be for a kid, even as she grows older. Most grandparents don’t have to do a lot of the heavy lifting associated with raising their grandkids, so they’re free to do nothing but love them. From my experience, unconditional love from a grandparent really is unconditional. I’m also intrigued by the idea of a less-than-stellar mother becoming a terrific grandmother.

 

One of the most significant ideas in the book is learning how to see what you do have, instead of dwelling on what you don’t have. Is that a mantra you live by?

I wish I could unhesitatingly say yes, but like Georgia, I’m still learning.

 

Are you planning to return to Nana’s Kitchen and this cast of characters in your next book, or do you feel like Georgia’s story is finished? If so, where do you think you’ll go next?

I don’t think Georgia’s story is finished by any means, and I’d love to pay her a visit after Nana’s Kitchen opens to see how things are panning out. Is the restaurant the smash success she hopes it will be? Is she still with Andrew? Does she get her own Food Network show? Will she get pregnant? Married? Open a second place? Return to Italy? The possibilities are endless, but writing a sequel is a ways off. Right now I’m working on a novel about a woman whose world is turned upside down when her husband is convicted of a white-collar crime that sends him to jail. Forced to give up her moneyed New York lifestyle, she moves to the country where she falls in with a very different crowd and starts raising goats. Like Georgia’s Kitchen, it’s got a food motif running through it, though in a very different way, and love, family, and self-discovery are important themes.