Foodie and fiction writer Tori Haschka aimed to capture the effects of 2020 and the strain on mothers with young kids in her newest book A Recipe for Family, but without actually labelling it "a pandemic".

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"I don't think there is a mother of small or school-aged children in the last three years who hasn't been pushed to their limits and tried to prove to the world everything is okay, but they are just keeping their head above water," she said.

"I didn't want to write about the pandemic, I don't think people want to read about the pandemic as I think we're all still processing ... but the pandemic is there as a dark punchline at the end."

That said, Haschka has not given away the ending of her latest novel, which also intertwines a love for comfort food with laughs and drama.

The writer is no stranger to deadlines having published novels, cookbooks and numerous articles for an array of news outlets in the past, but this book was tough because she was trying to juggle her work with looking after two kids under six, a husband who worked long hours or was away and a pandemic turning life upside down.

For nearly two years the writer began work at the hour bakers do and poured her creative thoughts onto a page before her children awoke, and then again in the dark hours of night when they went to bed (or quietly watched Bluey on a screen).

"Working mothers are being asked by the world to do two jobs at the same time and what kind of compromises do you make to keep your head above water," she said.

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Prior to the pandemic the compromise was using the services of an au pair (or live in nanny), but Haschka said the onset of COVID-19 forced her tribe to leave the Northern Beaches of Sydney to her mum's house in Berry.

The move was to shield her chronic asthmatic son from potential harm while also allowing them to see their family rather than be barred by lockdowns.

A Recipe for Family follows on from her previous novel Grace Under Pressure, though not a direct sequel - just set "in the same world" with old characters popping up amongst the new.

Haschka has settled into Berry life and eagerly penning some thoughts for another book.

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A Recipe for Family, three women are drawn together by impossible circumstances. Tori continues to explore the dynamics of female relationships across generations, and the gravity of motherhood leavened by the joy that food can bring.

Stella is in desperate need of help. With her husband away she's juggling a full-time job, a tricky stepdaughter and a relentless four year old. She reluctantly hires an au pair in the hope it will lighten the load.

Stella's mother-in-law, Elise, thinks this is a terrible idea. An industrial chemist and staunch feminist, she doesn't know where to begin with this new au pair trend. But she's promised her son not to meddle.

For Ava, life in Sydney as an au pair could be just the thing she needs to fill the void left by the loss of her mother. With her mother's recipes in her hands and hope in her heart, she sets off to reinvent herself in a place far away, where nothing is as it seems.

Published by Simon & Schuster | August 2022 | RRP $29.99

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