Dear Francesca is a delightful book written by Mary Contini for her daughter. Mary Contini, well known among Edinburgh's foodies, is one of the directors of the famous Italian food shop Valvona and Crolla. The book follows her family's journey from the mountains of Southern Italy to Scotland for a better life. They brought with them the food and flavours from Italy. In this book Mary Contini passes on her knowledge and love of food to her daughter and any who read it.

Unlike most cookbooks this one isn't full of colourful photographs of food to accompany the recipes, but photographs of her family accompanied with fascinating stories about them and how the recipe was created. Recipes are beautiful written and easy to follow, and include plenty of information on cooking techniques and how to choose the best ingredients.

I often find myself bored reading chefs and cooks account of their lives but this book is different. Mary Contini has created a fascinating book full of passion straight from the heart, making it a true joy to read. I truly can't recommend this book enough.