Will This Make You Happy

For fans of Nora Ephron and Nigel Slater, this hybrid memoir and cookbook brings together over fifty inventive baking recipes with a lyrical coming-of-age story about desire and dessert. Perfect for home cooks, lovers of literature, and anyone who finds comfort in the kitchen.

Named a Best Cookbook of Winter 2026 by Bon Appétit and Epicurious, and a Lit Hub Most Anticipated Book of 2026

“Beautiful-smart, funny and effortlessly lyrical.” -Ruby Tandoh, bestselling author of Cook As You Are

“This is an entirely different kind of cookbook, one that makes you want to curl up and read cover to cover. I loved it.”-Sohla El-Waylly, James Beard Award winner and author of the bestselling cookbook Start Here

Tanya Bush is adrift in the uncertainty of her early twenties-unemployed, uninspired, and stuck in a long-term relationship that’s lost its spark. One day, just to do something, she decides to bake a cake. It’s gooey in the center, woefully underbaked, an absolute disaster-but it also reminds her of the pleasures of baking: sugar crystals under her fingernails, flour in her hair, and the hard-earned satisfaction of following the steps of a recipe to the end.

Over the course of a year, Tanya embarks on a journey that carries her from her tiny apartment to the sunlit kitchens of an Italian agriturismo to the basement of a bustling Brooklyn bakery, where she rediscovers her appetite for pleasure, indulgence, and meaningful work.

A culinary memoir and love story, interwoven with over fifty innovative and approachable baking recipes, Will This Make You Happy is for readers and bakers looking for something messier, more experimental, and honest than the typical aspirational cookbook.