In “Kate & Frida,” Kim Fay has crafted a delightful epistolary novel that captures the magic of letter-writing in the last decade before email and social media transformed how we connect. Set primarily between 1991 and 1994, this warmhearted story follows two twenty-somethings—Seattle bookseller Kate Fair and aspiring war correspondent Frida Rodriguez—as they forge a profound friendship through handwritten letters exchanged between Seattle and Paris.
As a follow-up to Fay’s national bestseller “Love & Saffron” (which also employed the epistolary format), “Kate & Frida” expands on themes of friendship, self-discovery, and the transformative power of sharing meals. The novel serves as both a time capsule of the early ’90s and a poignant reminder that even in our most uncertain moments, connection remains essential.
The Power of Letters in a Pre-Digital Age
What makes “Kate & Frida” particularly engaging is its format—entirely told through letters, with no narrative exposition. This choice brilliantly recreates the anticipation and intimacy of correspondence in an era when waiting for mail was part of daily life. The pace at which their friendship unfolds feels authentic; unlike today’s instant messaging, these characters must wait weeks between exchanges, giving their thoughts time to percolate and develop.
The contrast between Kate’s neat, sometimes self-conscious penmanship and Frida’s exuberant, dash-filled typewritten pages vividly illustrates their personalities. Kate’s early letters reveal her insecurity about her literary knowledge compared to her bookstore colleagues, while Frida’s overflow with enthusiasm, run-on sentences, and her signature exclamation points.
Through their correspondence, we witness how the simple act of writing to a stranger can provide a safe space for vulnerability that might not exist elsewhere in their lives. As Kate writes in one letter: “But I feel like whatever I tell you, you’ll understand it, like we’re on the same wavelength or something.”
Two Distinct Yet Complementary Protagonists
Fay has created two thoroughly realized protagonists whose distinct voices leap off the page:
- Kate Fair: A perky Seattle bookseller who struggles with anxiety and feelings of intellectual inadequacy among her literary coworkers. Though she’s an aspiring novelist whose first book was almost published, she lacks confidence in her abilities and is dating Sven, a pretentious fellow bookseller whose philosophizing often makes her feel small. Kate’s relationship with her beloved grandfather “Bumpa” forms a central emotional pillar of her storyline.
- Frida Rodriguez: The daughter of a Mexican-American father and Danish food writer mother, Frida is impulsive, adventure-seeking, and sometimes reckless. Her desire to become a “War Journo Dame” leads her to Sarajevo during the Bosnian War, where she confronts the harsh realities of conflict and her own limitations. Frida’s complex relationship with her family’s expectations drives much of her character development.
What works beautifully is how these women complement each other’s growth. Kate helps Frida recognize that small acts of kindness matter, while Frida encourages Kate to trust her own instincts and stand up for herself. Their friendship becomes a mirror that reflects their true selves back to them.
Historical Context That Resonates
The novel’s early ’90s setting functions as more than nostalgic backdrop. Fay skillfully weaves major world events into the narrative fabric:
- The Bosnian War and siege of Sarajevo
- The Rwandan genocide
- The dissolution of the Soviet Union
- The L.A. riots following the Rodney King verdict
These historical touchpoints allow the characters to grapple with their place in a rapidly changing world. How do you find meaning in your own small life when faced with global tragedy? How can joy exist alongside suffering? The novel doesn’t offer simple answers but suggests that connection and empathy are essential starting points.
For readers who lived through this era, there’s a bittersweet quality to witnessing the characters navigate this pre-internet moment—unaware of the massive technological changes about to reshape human communication forever.
Food as Identity and Connection
Following in the tradition of “Love & Saffron,” Fay continues to demonstrate her gift for writing about food as a means of cultural exchange and emotional connection. When Frida cooks bosanski lonac (Bosnian stew) for Sarajevo refugees in Paris, she creates a moment of connection that transcends language and reminds them of home. When Kate makes her family’s orange Jello salad with pineapple and shredded carrots for Thanksgiving, it represents her roots and values.
Some of the novel’s most memorable passages involve these characters discovering food’s capacity to provide comfort and forge bonds:
“If a flavor can take me home, why can’t a flavor take me someplace I’ve never been? Why can’t it take me inside someone’s life where I can see how much we have in common—how we all just want to be nourished—even if it feels like we’re polar opposites on the surface?”
The inclusion of actual recipes at the end—including Laurie Colwin’s Tomato Pie, which features prominently in Kate’s culinary education—adds a delightful interactive dimension. Readers can literally taste the novel’s themes.
Where the Novel Occasionally Falters
Despite its considerable charms, “Kate & Frida” isn’t without flaws:
- Predictable relationship arcs: Both women’s romantic storylines follow somewhat expected trajectories. Kate’s relationship with the insufferable Sven is clearly doomed from early on, while Frida’s realization about her feelings for her friend Kirby feels telegraphed well before she acknowledges it.
- Simplified view of trauma: While Frida’s brief experience in war-torn Sarajevo is movingly portrayed, her relatively quick emotional recovery afterward feels somewhat unrealistic given the trauma she witnessed. The psychological impact of such experiences would likely be more profound and lasting than the novel suggests.
- Over-reliance on coincidences: Some plot developments rely heavily on chance encounters and connections that strain credulity, particularly in the publishing world subplot involving The New Yorker.
- Occasionally on-the-nose messaging: At times, the novel’s themes about finding joy during difficult times are stated too explicitly rather than emerging organically from the narrative.
These issues, however, don’t significantly detract from the novel’s overall emotional impact and readability.
Literary Influences and Bookish Appeal
Book lovers will particularly enjoy how literature itself becomes a character in this novel. Through Kate and Frida’s exchanges about authors from MFK Fisher to Wallace Stegner to Virginia Woolf, Fay has created a reading list that traces their intellectual and emotional development.
The setting of Kate’s bookstore—clearly inspired by Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Company, where Fay herself once worked—offers a nostalgic glimpse into independent bookselling before the rise of megastores and Amazon. The characters’ concerns about a “Forth & Regal” superstore opening nearby remind us how much the bookselling landscape has changed.
The novel also pays homage to women writers who found meaning in everyday experiences. When Kate discovers food writer Laurie Colwin and MFK Fisher, she finds validation for her own desire to write about seemingly ordinary moments. As Frida eventually realizes about her food writer mother’s work: “She discovered she could actually tell people’s stories in a deeper way than if she was a regular reporter.”
Final Assessment: A Warm, Nourishing Read
“Kate & Frida” succeeds most brilliantly as a celebration of friendship and the ways we help each other grow. The novel suggests that sometimes the person who understands us best might be someone we’ve never met face-to-face—someone who knows us entirely through our words.
Fay’s prose shines with warmth and specificity, particularly when describing food, bookstores, and the physical landscapes of Seattle and Paris. Her characters feel like people you might have known in your own twenties, struggling to figure out who they are and what matters most.
For readers who enjoyed Fay’s “Love & Saffron,” or fans of epistolary novels like “84, Charing Cross Road” or “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,” this novel offers similar pleasures. It would also appeal to readers of Ann Hood, Elizabeth Berg, or early Anna Quindlen—writers who find profundity in ordinary lives.
While not flawless, “Kate & Frida” is ultimately a comforting, engaging read that reminds us how friendships can develop in unexpected ways and become the scaffolding that supports us through life’s uncertainties. As Kate writes to Frida near the novel’s end: “I bet I’d still be a brain-jittering insecure mess without you and your renegade exclamation marks.”
In an age of disposable digital communication, this novel makes a compelling case for the lasting value of words written with care and sent with love—whether across town or across oceans.
Kim Fay is also the author of the national bestseller “Love & Saffron” and the Edgar Award-nominated historical novel “The Map of Lost Memories.” She previously lived in Vietnam, which inspired her food memoir “Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam.”