There are a few books that it seems like everyone is reading this summer.
The Sicilian Inheritance of course (still the perfect summer hostess present). But also Miranda July’s All Fours and the new Emily Henry book and the new (but last) Elin Hildebrand Nantucket novel, Swan Song.
And then there is Sandwich. I would say that at least 80% of my friends have read Sandwich and of those 80% all of them love it. ALL of them. I haven’t met one person who doesn’t which is a feat because someone always hates something.
I raved and raved about Catherine Newman’s book We All Want Impossible Things when it came out in 2022. I was pregnant and hormonal and a little batty, but I think it would have made me cry like a baby and laugh like a hyena anyway. I bought it for all of my friends, I mentioned it on a zillion podcasts when I was supposed to be talking about my own books. I didn’t think I could love a Catherine Newman novel more.
I was wrong.
Enter Sandwich.
Here is the synopsis:
For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals, and messes of all kinds: emotional, marital, and—thanks to the cottage’s ancient plumbing—septic too.
This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers.
It's one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.
I saw a post on Instagram about this book asking if they thought women would relate to this novel who were not in the so-called sandwich period of life or if they had kids much younger than Rocky’s.
I can say 100% that I related to the book and to Rocky’s story. Even though I have only been married about ten years and not thirty I could completely feel the push/pull of a long and loving and frustrating and wonderful and infuriating marriage. Newman writes beautifully about how you can love a person and not like them for long periods of time, how you can feel alone even in the most loving marriage and how sometimes the person who is supposed to know you the best, knows you the least.
But what really got me in Sandwich were Newman’s descriptions of how it feels to let your children go. She doesn’t mince words about how hard it is to parent small kids. She is very clear about the messiness and the fights and frustrations and the exhaustion. But reading about the longing that Rocky feels and the nostalgia she has for that time with her young children really hit home for me. I am in the thick of it right now, the thickest of the thick. I am swimming in pee and poo and tears and giggles and farts.
I know that one day I will miss these times, but that day feels so so far away.
I am a person who hates it when people tell me that young childhood goes by so fast and how much I will miss it. I understand this on a rational level. But when you are in the shit you don’t want to hear it. And the days ARE LONG. WE ARE TIRED.
But reading Sandwich helped me see the long days and exhaustion and the hand, foot and mouth virus and the nights where each of the kids climbs into my bed at different hours during the night, through the lens of future me. The future me who will miss this. Newman delivers this gift in a hilarious and wry way that doesn’t feel too sappy and sweet like an Instagram meme or something stitched on a pillow at HomeGoods.
A lot of you ask me for book recs and I simply can’t recommend this one enough. I would give away my copy but I left mine for a friend after I stayed at her shore house for a week (I told you books make the best hostess presents…I practice what I preach friends.)
If you want more Catherine follow her Substack
. I also loved this recent piece about quitting drinking for Cup of Jo.
I’m reading it now & I love it. We used to go to Sandwich when my kids were younger, so it is definitely bittersweet.
FOrget not the appearance of Sicilian Lemon Polenta Pound Cake in Impossible Things - maybe you already mentioned this? Can't wait to read Sandwich.