Sixteen months ago, thirty-two-year-old actress Cathryn Deen was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. She is getting mega-millions for her next movie, is married to Gerald Barnes Merritt, a brilliant, wealthy man, and she is launching her own cosmetic line. On the day Cathy announces her new business venture to the press, she has a fleeting vision in of her Granny Nettie's biscuits and cream gravy. The last time she had a vision it was of her father, who died that night of a heart attack. After the press conference, Cathy is driving home when a sleazy, offensive showbiz paparazzi, Mason Angston, begins videotaping her. She tries to speed away from him, and a horrible accident ensues. Cathy's car goes airborne, lands in a field, and catches fire. She is trapped in the burning car while Mason is videotaping the event. When she finally gets out of the vehicle she is on fire -- and the cretin keeps on taping. She can hear Granny Nettie saying, "Beauty is fleeting, but biscuits are forever".

Thomas Mitternich wound up at Delta Whittlespoon's Crossroads Café four years ago. He lost his wife and young son in the World Trade Center, and had been running as hard and as fast as he could to reach oblivion. He is drunk more often than he is sober, but he has become a part of Delta lost souls that she is trying to save. Thomas was a successful architect in New York City, and he wants to buy and restore the Nettie farm on Wild Woman Ridge. This gives him an ulterior motive for helping Delta get in touch with her long-lost cousin Cathryn, who now owns her late grandmother's farm.

Cathy has a long, painful recovery in the isolated burn recovery unit. Gerald isolated, abandoned, and eventually divorced her. Only Delta is able to call her through the telephone number obtained by Thomas, and Delta overnights Cathy biscuits and gravy to give her hope.

When Cathy is finally released from the hospital after numerous surgeries and lengthy, painful rehab treatments, she hides out at her Granny Nettie's home in the remote mountains of western North Carolina. Only Thomas knows where she is, and he believes she is still the most beautiful woman he has ever seen even with the scars on her face and body.

THE CROSSROADS CAFÉ is written in short chapters, either in Cathy's point of view or Thomas's. It is a beautiful, poignant story of the walking wounded; one with visible scars and one whose scars are deeply embedded in his soul. The supporting characters, especially Delta and a goat named Banger, are colorful and simply outstanding. Delta believes that food, particularly biscuits, will cure all ills.

I have never read a novel by Deborah Smith that didn't sing to me in her soft Southern voice with perfect pitch. Ms. Smith gifts her characters with a sense of humor and a quirkiness that is unique, and writes excellent dialogue for them. THE CROSSROADS CAFÉ is a wonderful love story that deserves to be read again and again.

Book Summary

A beautiful woman, scarred for life.
A tortured man, seeking redemption.
Brought together by fate in a small town high in the majestic Appalachian mountains.
Live. Love. Believe.

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