Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals that Brought Me Home

(Paperback)

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Stir is a heartfelt examination of what it means to nourish and be nourished. At 28, Jessica Fechtor suffered a major aneurysm. She lost her sense of smell, the sight in her left eye and was forced to the side-lines of the life she loved. Her journey to recovery started in the kitchen, where she found peace in standing at the stovetop. Stir is a memoir about this journey, including some of the recipes that helped her repair both her body and her life.

Reviews

Pairing food with the nightmare of surviving a brain aneurysmshouldn'tworkbut under JessicaFechtor'swise and wonderful narration, the pairing not only works, it shines."Susannah Cahalan, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Brain on Fire

Jessica Fechtor writes with remarkable lucidity, courage, and grace about the darkest and brightest moments a person can know. Stirwill feed you, even after the last page is turned."Molly Wizenberg, creator of Orangette and author of the New York Times bestseller A Homemade Life

Utterly captivating, engrossing, un-put-down-ably, terrifyingly magnificent. In a world filled with dross, Stir is breathtaking.Elissa Altman, author of Poor Mans Feast

Written with the flare of a novelist and the precision of an academic,Stir is a brave, beautiful narrative of illness and recovery. But it is not only that. It is a meditation on food and the kitchen, what it means to cook, and how the choices we make at the table can define who we are and who we want to be.Molly Birnbaum, author of Season to Taste

Fechtor's gentle lyricism cannot hide her fierce determinationnotonlytosurvive, buttoflourish."Luisa Weiss, creator of The Wednesday Chef and author of My Berlin Kitchen

Stiris a beautiful, sometimes sad, often heart-lifting story of putting back together what has fallen apart. It is a poignant reminder of how inexorably tied our hearts and minds are to our stomachs, and what a blessing that can be.Tamar Adler, author of An Everlasting Meal

Though Stir winds us through Ms. Fechtors illness, its complications and ultimately her recovery, this book isnt a tale of sickness and health. And though it is filled with inviting concoctionsit isnt merely a book about food and how to make it. Rather, its a recipe for living a life of meaning and an homage to the people in her life who nourished her.Wall Street Journal

An inspiring journey, with recipes. With a novelists touch, Fechtor chronicles her recovery from a brain aneurysm that hit her as a Harvard graduate student at 28, sending her life on a far different path than she had imagined.Seattle Times

Charmingly peppered with personal recipes, [STIR] thoroughly inspired readers and immersed them in Fechtors life against all odds.Elle

Jessica Fechtor blends the story of her near-fatal brain aneurysm with recipes as if it's a natural combination. And for someone with her optimism and modesty, it is. A feel good memoir.Shelf Awareness

BeautifulPyschcentral.com

With warmth, humor and clarity, she explains in Stir how cooking helped her to reclaim her life.Columbus Dispatch

Reading the book, I was compelled to reach for a pen every few pages, to underline things I didnt want to forget things I had to remember.The Forward

Fechtor writes beautifully and is a warm, gracious guide through her own landscape of illness. Fechtor skillfully combines the sequence of events, memories of her earlier life, and her adventures in the kitchen.Jewish Week

Author Bio

JessicaFechtor's debut memoir, Stir- My Broken Brain and the Meals that Brought Me Home, chronicles her recovery from a ruptured aneurysm at age 28, and how she reclaimed her life through food and cooking. A national bestseller and winner of the 2015 Living Now Book Award, Stir has been praised by Oprah.com as "a page-turning pleasure," and by The Wall Street Journal as "a recipe for living a life of meaning."Fechtorlives in San Francisco with her husband and daughters. She doesn't believe in secret recipes.