The Memoir Edit — English But Better

Leo: Grandma, chapter nine is forty pages about soup.

Rosa: It is a good soup.

Leo: I'm sure it is. But my editor says that a reader will want more facts. The war, your marriage, the years in Buenos Aires.

Rosa: The soup is in all of those.

Leo: Is it?

Rosa: In the war, there was a soup made of nothing. At the wedding, your grandfather said he would marry me only if I gave him the recipe.

Leo: Grandpa proposed because of a soup?

Rosa: He said it was a joke. He never made a joke in his life.

Leo: Hmm. And Buenos Aires?

Rosa: I cooked it for strangers for a year. Three of them are now your godparents.

Leo: Then I should keep chapter nine.

Rosa: You should cut chapter four. It's about the weather.

Leo: Why?

Rosa: Because nobody ever cried at the weather.

Leo: Okay. I'll move the soup to the beginning.

Rosa: And Leo, one more thing. Next to the dedication, please write: "For the people who asked for a second bowl."

Leo: I think that is the book.

Fiction note: All people, places and events in this dialogue are fictional.

Key Vocabulary

memoir (a book about someone's own life), dedication (a short message at the start of a book), godparent, proposed (asked someone to marry), edit

Language Focus

Because nobody ever cried at the weather is a short, striking reason. I think that is the book shows the grandson's realisation. Only if introduces a condition: I would marry you only if you gave me the recipe.