title: Dear Francesca: A Cookbook with Love
author:  Mary Contini 
description: tory of an Italian family&#8217;s emigration to Scotland, and the respect for Italian attitudes and passion for food that formed the cornerstone of their family life.
zlib_text: ![](../Images/MyCoverImage.jpg)
  
  
  ## About the Book
  
  
  
  
  
  Everything is falling to pieces for Francesca Thayer. Her beautiful old house
  is full of leaks and in need of total restoration. Then her relationship with
  lawyer Todd collapses and he moves out. As the owner of a struggling art
  gallery she can’t possibly manage the mortgage alone, so she is forced to do
  the one thing she never imagined she would: she advertises for lodgers.
  
  
  
  
  
  First arrives Eileen – a young, attractive schoolteacher who has just moved
  from LA.
  
  
  
  
  
  Then comes Chris, a newly divorced father struggling with a difficult ex-wife
  and the challenges of parenting his seven-year-old son who visits every other
  weekend.
  
  
  
  
  
  Last to arrive is Marya – a famous cookery author who is hoping to rebuild her
  life after the death of her husband.
  
  
  
  
  
  And so Francesca finds that her house has become a whole new world – and as
  things begin to turn around, she realizes that her accidental tenants have
  become the most important pe