Phillip Thomas Duck Apple Brown Betty

Apple Brown Betty

Phillip Thomas Duck

Sepia, Mar 2007, $14.95

ISBN: 0373830416

Asbury Park, New Jersey is in rapid decline. Thus freelance magazine writer Cydney Williams is elated that a new restaurant Cush is opening in her hometown when no one was taking a chance on this depressed place. She plans to write an article on it praying that it is as good as what she has heard about the chef-owner.

However, she finds herself biased when she meets the owner chef Desmond Rucker, whose desserts are mouthwatering, but his body is sinful to die for. However, as Cydney ponders a relationship with the dynamic restaurateur, she worries about the decline of her once vivacious mother into an addict. She is concerned about her brother Shammond, who lives the lifestyle of the affluent but shows no inclination of how he pays his bills, which makes her worried that he is trafficking. As Cydney falls deeper in love with Desmond, her family, who she has always been there for them, threatens to betray her by destroying her chance of a lifetime of APPLE BROWN BETTY.

The key to this insightful contemporary tale is Asbury Park, a dying city that gains a little life with the simple opening of a new restaurant. Readers will admire the courage of Desmond for doing this as every advisor and friend believes he is wasting money and his reputation on a losing locale. Cydney, abetted by her mother and brother, brings a deep look into a family in decline serving as a real microcosm of what is happening in many urban centers. Phillip Thomas Duck provides a powerful tale of modern day America though his strong cast including the run down city.

Harriet Klausner