After seeing several book reviewers list A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff as one of the top ten books to read this year, I added it to my summer reading list. This one I read just for me, but my children would have loved it. Centering around several different story lines, A Tangle of Knots takes place in Poughkeepsie, New York. This is a very special version of the world in which most people have a Talent. These Talents can be anything from knot-tying to plant-watering or even spitting. One eleven-year-old girl possesses the Talent of knowing exactly which kind of cake will be someone's favorite and the head of a home for orphaned girls is Talented in knowing exactly which family and which orphan go together.
I also loved that between several chapters, the author includes recipes for some of the characters' perfect cakes: Miss Malory's Peach Cake, Will's S'more Cake, Marigold's Lime Pound Cake and even one called Zane's Garlic Cake. I'm not sure I'd like to try that last one, but it says it is "a cake that's not as terrible as it seems, on the surface, to be."
And finally the moral of the story is all wrapped up in one man's advice to Cady, the last orphan,
"'Just remember this,' he said. 'It's the way we deal with what Fate hands us that defines who we are.'"
That's good advice for all of us, young or old.
This book was a quick read and a lot of fun. I think my niece will love it so I've already put it on my Christmas list for her! Shh...don't tell her.
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