The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic

“As always, Gigi warned her how their creations would speak to them. If you were in love, things tended to turn out too sweet. If dinner was bland, you needed some adventure. And if you burned a dessert—well, something wicked this way comes. Sadie listened to those lessons among the bitter rutabagas and wild, climbing sweet peas, drinking in every word, and letting them take root in her heart. She grew up comfortable with the knowledge that she was strange, weaving the magic around her like ribbons on a maypole. Now, she made her living from selling that strange. A little dash of dreams in the batter and a small drop of hope in the dough. The magic had been in her veins for so long, sometimes she forgot who she was without it. Like layers of phyllo dough, they were nearly impossible to separate.”

Randall uses food similes and other language that echoes the book’s food magic content throughout the novel. In this passage, the figures of speech “drinking in every word” and taking “root in her heart” emphasize the importance of food and plant magic to the passage. The simile about phyllo dough has two significant effects: It establishes the novel’s food-focused, cozy tone; and it sets up Sadie’s primary character conflict of needing to figure out who she is without magic.

“And there he stood. A delicious memory brought to life. Her stomach dipped and knotted—and it all came rushing back. It was the satisfying crunch of a sharp knife cutting through ripe watermelon. It was green citronella spirals burning down and sunscreen squirting hot out of the tube. It was banana pancakes on repeat and the gang of river silt clinging to tanned skin. It was summer. And freedom. And youth. And heartbreak so hot it cauterized.”

The return of Jake, Sadie’s first heartbreak, elicits an array of sensory memories.. The summer sensations here impact all five senses, including tactile and scent memories as well as auditory and visual ones to evoke the experience of summer, youth, and love. The metaphor, “heartbreak so hot it cauterized,” characterizes the intensity of Sadie’s heartbreak through an image of physical pain.

“Sadie’s whole body went numb. There as a pressure in her ears that made everything muted. ‘It’s stage four,’ Gigi continued, and Sadie’s heart constricted. ‘I’m an old broad—I’ve lived a long time. I couldn’t ask for anything more.’ Her tone was sure as summer rain as Sadie’s world started falling apart. She didn’t move. Couldn’t. The dirty C word. Cancer.”

Randall uses dialogue to build suspense through the gradual reveal of Gigi’s cancer diagnosis. Gigi mentions “stage four,” before the word cancer is used. Randall also includes descriptions of Sadie’s panic and Gigi’s sense of calm before the diagnosis is clarified in the passage. The passage is experiential for the reader, as they begin to suspect cancer then realize it as Sadie does.