Published in 2021
256 pages
Elizabeth Passarella is the author of the essay collections It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway and Good Apple, which was named a Best Book of the Year 2021 by Real Simple. A former editor at Real Simple and Vogue, she has spent more than 20 years writing about food, travel, home design, and parenting in outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Parents, Martha Stewart Weddings, Coastal Living, Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn, and Southern Living. Elizabeth grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and now lives in New York City with her family.
What is this book about?
“For a woman who thinks of herself as a New Yorker at this point, I buy a lot of clothes from companies named things like Shrimp & Grits. Why? Because identity is complicated.”
Elizabeth Passarella is content with being complicated. She grew up in Memphis in a conservative Republican family with a Christian mom and a Jewish dad. Then she moved to New York, fell in love with the city–and, eventually, her husband–and changed. Sort of. While her politics have tilted to the left, she still puts her faith first, and argues that the two can go hand in hand, for what it’s worth. Whether you have city lights or starry skies in your eye, Good Apple will show you that: In this sharp and slyly profound memoir, Elizabeth upends stereotypes about Southerners, New Yorkers, and Christians, making a case that we are all flawed humans simply doing our best.
