Dreams & Recipes 1904 - 1914 by Viola Dono

Dreams & Recipes 1904 - 1914 by Viola Dono

Dreams and Recipes 1904-1914
First edition was Winner of Gourmand Cookbook Awards Northern Ireland, Food Writer of the Year (2015)

Step back in time to Titanic-era Belfast - a city humming with shipbuilding, secrets, and the scent of baking bread.

Told through a decade-long exchange of letters between Britain and the United States, Dreams and Recipes 1904-1914 is a beautifully crafted factional novella - fiction woven from real lives and true events. Through handwritten notes, recipes, and confessions, the characters reveal their dreams, disappointments, and daily lives shaped by emigration, social divisions, and looming tragedy.

From ordinary kitchen tables to the refined halls of Northern Ireland's gentry, traditional dishes are swapped alongside stories - warming soups, spiced puddings, rustic breads, and forgotten favourites that evoke a bygone era. Discover recipes both humble and historic, including contributions from well-known Northern Irish figures of the time.

Smell the sea air mingling with the aromas of home-baked pies drifting through Belfast's red brick terraces. Feel the collective heartbreak as news spreads of the 'unsinkable' ship's tragic fate. And hear the whispers of folklore in the tale of a pudding said to be bewitched by fairies.

This is more than historical fiction - it's a sensory journey through a time of great hope and heartache, flavoured with nostalgia, and rich in the resilient spirit of the Northern Irish people.

And perhaps, as you turn the final page, you'll ask yourself: how much has really changed?