Lisa Wingate's Newsletter and The Summer Kitchen

Inspired by a true story!

THE SUMMER KITCHEN is available now in bookstores everywhere.

http://www.lisawingate.com

Happy summer, everyone! I hope this note finds you enjoying the long, lazy days of July, spending time with family, and in the mood for a little summer reading. For those who enjoyed meeting Teddy, Hannabeth, and Rebecca last year in A Month of Summer (Now available on audio from Recorded Books, by the way), the second book in the series, The Summer Kitchen, has just been released. I'm incredibly excited about this book, because it was inspired by a fascinating true story. To introduce you to it, I thought I'd share this newspaper article about the The Summer Kitchen and its real-life inspiration:

Waco's Gospel Cafe Inspires New Lisa Wingate Novel

Truth and fiction don't often find themselves on the same page, but in the case of Lisa Wingate's latest novel, The Summer Kitchen, the two are very much intertwined. Inspired by the Gospel Café in Waco, Texas, the new novel marks the national bestselling author's 12th release.

Wingate compares writing stories to panning for gold. "You never know where the nuggets will be," she says. "Writers are the sort of people who eavesdrop on cell phone conversations in malls or clog the checkout line while collecting background information from the cashier." But she didn't have to look far for inspiration in the case of The Summer Kitchen; it literally walked up to her, as a customer at a book signing suggested, "If you're looking for a good story, I think there's a place you should know about." She told Wingate about the Gospel Cafe, located in a restored blue and white Victorian house, where a volunteer staff offers meals cooked and served with love for those who need a meal, regardless of ability to pay. http://www.lisawingate.com