- Hachette Book Group
- Despite what the cover looks like, this is not a sweet and whimsical book, and thank goodness for that.
If you’re lucky, this summer you’re going to have a long plane ride or a few long afternoons beside a large body of water, and you’re going to need a book to keep you company. If you’re less lucky, you’re going to log hours riding on the el with other hot, smelly commuters and loud, drunk baseball fans, and you’re going to need a book not just for company, but for distraction. This is not a time for a book that requires space and quiet for you to think about what it all means (unless you’re fortunate enough to get a seat on the eastern side of one of the Lake Shore Drive express buses, where you can spend your commute gazing contemplatively at Lake Michigan). This is time for a book whose reason for existence is far more basic: it was created to entertain you and make your train or plane ride more endurable.
In case you couldn’t tell, Lillian is no sweet old lady. (She doesn’t even like ice cream that much, though she does love her weed and whisky.) Since early childhood, her defining characteristic has been her big mouth. When the world takes a swing at her, she punches right back. Upon her arrival in America in 1913, she suffers a series of catastrophes that result in her being abandoned by both her parents, separated from her three sisters, and her right leg getting crushed after she gets in the way of an Italian ice peddler’s horse. Out of guilt, the peddler and his family take her in and teach her how to make ice cream, but, as she learns, they never really love or accept her as one of them.
