Books like Shakespeare's Kitchen by Lore Segal

During World War II, a foster girl in Nazi Germany steals books to share with neighbors and a hidden Jewish man, proving literature’s power to nourish the soul amid darkness.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks follows the story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor black tobacco farmer whose cancer cells were taken in 1951 without her consent and later became the first immortal human cell line, HeLa, driving major scientific breakthroughs while raising questions of ethics, race, and medical exploitation.

Sisters Vianne and Isabelle are pulled into the turmoil of World War II, each forging a path of courage and resistance against the Nazi occupation of France.

When Helen, believing she's dying, urges Winnie's daughter Pearl to learn the truth, Winnie retells her own past—from a small island near Shanghai in the 1920s through wartime China to her 1949 arrival in America—revealing hidden family secrets.

A collection of Native‑American short stories that explore personal and cultural crossroads, testing loyalties and identities.

A divorced mother returns to her childhood home and wrestles with childhood memories, parental bonds, and the fragility of family trust, while a young man confronts his sense of duty toward his brother.

A collection of Margaret Atwood’s imaginative short stories that blend surreal scenarios with sharp observations on relationships.

A girl discovers her mother’s hidden emotions through taste, and must learn to keep secrets she can no longer ignore.

" ... Hannele Klemettilä corrects many misconceptions about the food of the Middle Ages, acquainting the reader not only with its culinary culture but also the customs and ideologies associated with eating during the period. The author describes the fish, meat, fruit and vegetables that travelled great distances to grace medieval dining tables and the elaborate dishes created in the kitchens of Europe some 600 years ago. Accompanied by paintings, illuminations and illustrations, the book also contains over 60 recipes based on historical sources that can be easily prepared in the modern home"--Jacket, page [2].

Are trees social beings? Forester and author Peter Wohlleben makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in his woodland.

Food can embody our personal history as well as wider cultural histories. But what are the stories we tell ourselves about the kitchen, and how do we first come to it? How do the cookbooks we read shape us? Can cooking be a tool for connection in the kitchen and outside of it? In these essays thirteen writers consider the subjects of cooking and eating and how they shape our lives, and the possibilities and limitations the kitchen poses. Rachel Roddy traces an alternative personal history through the cookers in her life; Rebecca May Johnson considers the radical potential of finger food; Ruby Tandoh discovers other definitions of sweetness through the work of writer Doreen Fernandez; Yemisí Aríbisálà remembers a love affair in which food failed as a language; and Julia Turshen considers food’s ties to community. A collection to savour and inspire, In the Kitchen brings together thirteen contemporary writers whose work brilliantly explores food, capturing their reflections on their experiences in the kitchen and beyond.