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The Heart-Shaped Tin
- Author
- Bee Wilson
- Narrator
- Bee Wilson
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 4 November 2025
- Run Time
- 8 hours 47 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
One August day, months after her marriage abruptly ended, a heart-shaped baking tin fell at Bee Wilson’s feet: the same one she had used to bake her wedding cake twenty-three years prior. This discovery struck a wave of emotions that propelled her search for others who have attached magical and personal properties to the objects in their kitchens.
Wilson’s bestselling Consider the Fork explored how kitchen items changed the way we eat; in The Heart-Shaped Tin, she delves into how these objects change the way we live. She meets people who open up about a favorite wooden spoon, a salt shaker inherited from a parent, and a vintage corkscrew collection. Our beloved items become powerful symbols of identity and memory, representing friendship, grief, love, superstition, safety, and even political resistance. Crossing continents, cultures, and time periods, Wilson deftly moves between a 5,000-year-old bottle for drinking chocolate and her children’s favorite melon baller; a metal spoon made by a Holocaust survivor and her mother’s silver-plated toast rack; a bombarded Ukrainian kitchen cabinet and her grandfather’s Wedgwood teapot. In telling these stories, she comes to terms with her grief over the dissolution of her marriage and the loss of her mother after a battle with dementia. The heart-shaped tin, in the end, becomes a moving reminder of the power of new beginnings.
Thoughtful, tender, and beautifully written, The Heart-Shaped Tin is a celebration of the fundamentally human urge to keep mementos, even in an increasingly rational age. It will change the way you look at both precious family heirlooms and humble household objects.
Critics Review
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“Wilson’s voice is steady and measured throughout, but her narration shines whenever she tenderly speaks of her mother. This thoughtful memoir will make listeners consider the importance of their own everyday objects.”
Kirkus Audiobook Reviews
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“Extraordinary.”
The Telegraph (London)
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“[A] delightful book, part memoir, part anthropological investigation.”
The Guardian (London)
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Wilson examines the individual histories and larger meaning of things we often take for granted…a sensitive account of endurance in the face of change…The chapters devoted to Wilson’s mother, whom she calls ‘K,’ are particularly moving.”
New York Times
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“Heart-wrenching and heartwarming in equal measure. No one is so good at capturing the everyday magic of kitchens, cooking, and life as Bee Wilson.”
Letitia Clark, author of Bitter Honey
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“Through this remarkable book, you will find yourself discovering meaning in plates, sadness in spoons, love in a measuring cup. I want to give this book to every cook I know.”
Ruth Reichl, author of The Paris Novel
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Bee Wilson
- Narrator
- Bee Wilson
- Duration
- 8 hours 47 minutes
- Release Date
- 4 November 2025
- ISBN
- 9798228579101
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Cookery / food and drink, Cookery / food and drink, Social and cultural history, Biography: general, Gender studies: women and girls, Memoirs
Synopsis
One August day, months after her marriage abruptly ended, a heart-shaped baking tin fell at Bee Wilson’s feet: the same one she had used to bake her wedding cake twenty-three years prior. This discovery struck a wave of emotions that propelled her search for others who have attached magical and personal properties to the objects in their kitchens.Wilson’s bestselling Consider the Fork explored how kitchen items changed the way we eat; in The Heart-Shaped Tin, she delves into how these objects change the way we live. She meets people who open up about a favorite wooden spoon, a salt shaker inherited from a parent, and a vintage corkscrew collection. Our beloved items become powerful symbols of identity and memory, representing friendship, grief, love, superstition, safety, and even political resistance. Crossing continents, cultures, and time periods, Wilson deftly moves between a 5,000-year-old bottle for drinking chocolate and her children’s favorite melon baller; a metal spoon made by a Holocaust survivor and her mother’s silver-plated toast rack; a bombarded Ukrainian kitchen cabinet and her grandfather’s Wedgwood teapot. In telling these stories, she comes to terms with her grief over the dissolution of her marriage and the loss of her mother after a battle with dementia. The heart-shaped tin, in the end, becomes a moving reminder of the power of new beginnings.Thoughtful, tender, and beautifully written, The Heart-Shaped Tin is a celebration of the fundamentally human urge to keep mementos, even in an increasingly rational age. It will change the way you look at both precious family heirlooms and humble household objects.
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