SUGAR AND SALT is a touching and important read that deals effectively with a number of vital issues regarding gender and race.

Susan Wiggs cleverly reverses the stereotype of male barbecue cook and female baker. The person who will be making the pink-iced, flowered, decorative cake on the book’s cover is not Margot Salton; she's actually the pitmaster who learned to barbecue in Texas and opened a restaurant in San Francisco next to a bakery. The baker is her romantic foil, Jerome “Sugar” Barnes, an entirely appropriate name for someone who makes sweet treats every day.

"SUGAR AND SALT is an extraordinarily thoughtful novel with nice references to yummy food and delicious-sounding recipes. There is also some romance, along with much philosophical and political significance."

Although the book is about the budding relationship between Margot and Jerome, it’s also about Margot's past and how she ended up in San Francisco after growing up in Texas. When Wiggs finally shares her backstory, which she does gradually over the course of the novel, we realize what a leap Margot has made from her humble and tragic roots. Throughout the story, she alludes to her horrible past. In the prologue, we learn that something is going to happen when she wins a prestigious restaurant award, but the details remain a mystery until the eventual reveal.

The real story of Margot's traumatic past is a perfect example of how fiction may impart hard truths. Wiggs graphically shows readers the horrors of what happens to women who stand up to abusers. Think about the recent cases of "stand your ground." All those who have “successfully” stood their ground are men. When women do the same, they are likely to be accused of murder and jailed. Not convinced? Simply Google "women and stand your ground." Wiggs helpfully provides more information about this miscarriage of justice in her Author's Note.

To a lesser extent, Wiggs shares lessons about the all-too-evident common thoughtlessness of those with white privilege. When Margot gives Jerome's two sons hoodies from her restaurant, they decline the gift at first. They explain, regretfully, that they don't wear hoodies. They also share that they keep their hands out of their pockets in stores and never run while out in public.

When one thinks of the often-deadly combination of "stand your ground" and "hoodie," what immediately comes to mind is the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. The results of a study on “stand your ground” laws and the percentage of white-on-black deaths found to be justifiable versus black-on-white deaths deemed unjustifiable is horrifying. While sad, it is not surprising. It also has been determined that women are less "justified" when killing a man, even when it is obviously an act of self-defense.

Wiggs points out all of these societal ills quite admirably. The central story is about Margot and her growth, strength and determination to succeed despite impediments that surely would cause people with not much of a backbone to give up and live a lesser life. Readers are left with many questions about social justice and equal rights, not to mention a legal system that is clearly unbalanced against those who are society's have-nots. And we see how the "haves" all too often escape consequences for their horrific actions.

SUGAR AND SALT is an extraordinarily thoughtful novel with nice references to yummy food and delicious-sounding recipes. There is also some romance, along with much philosophical and political significance.