The Wisdom of Flowers
Roberta Schira
Garzanti
Year: 2023
Pages: 400
Few people in this world are gifted with Eleonora’s heightened, almost supernatural sense of smell. It has served her well as a gourmet…until she wakes up in the hospital unable to taste or smell.
With her love life in shambles and her restaurant’s risk of closing, she turns to her grandmothers’ recipes—the last mementos of Ernesta. Her grandmother taught her that cooking, like love, is much more than chemistry. Her grandmother’s recipes have given her new hope; day by day, they offer a touch of courage here, a drop of joy there to teach her the value of patience and resilience, as well as the positive aspects of solitude, old age, and fighting to see one’s desires fulfilled. These are words to be left simmering in the heart over the slow flame of tenacity. For sometimes the world around us collapses, and we do not feel ready to face it. Yet, within each of us lies the strength to start over.
Everyone has their own special recipe; Eleonora must find her own unique ingredients to return to the kitchen. She must learn that while goals can be achieved alone, life only truly has the right flavor when shared with the people we love.

Winner of the 2024 Premio Nazionale Eno-Letterario Vermentino
Rights sold:
Russia (Eksmo)
Turkey (Serenad Yayinlari)