GOOD APPLE
Tales of a Southern Evangelical in New York
“For a woman who thinks of herself as a New Yorker at this point, I buy a lot of clothes from companies named things like Shrimp & Grits. Why? Because identity is complicated.”
Elizabeth Passarella is content with being complicated. She grew up in Memphis in a conservative, Republican family with a Christian mom and a Jewish dad. Then she moved to New York, fell in love with the city—and, eventually, her husband—and changed. Sort of. While her politics have tilted to the left, she still puts her faith first—and argues that the two can go hand in hand,
“For a woman who thinks of herself as a New Yorker at this point, I buy a lot of clothes from companies named things like Shrimp & Grits. Why? Because identity is complicated.”
Elizabeth Passarella is content with being complicated. She grew up in Memphis in a conservative, Republican family with a Christian mom and a Jewish dad. Then she moved to New York, fell in love with the city—and, eventually, her husband—and changed. Sort of. While her politics have tilted to the left, she still puts her faith first—and argues that the two can go hand in hand, for what it’s worth.
In this sharp and slyly profound memoir, Elizabeth shares stories about everything from conceiving a baby in an unair-conditioned garage in Florida to finding a rat in her bedroom. She upends stereotypes about Southerners, New Yorkers, and Christians, making a case that we are all flawed humans simply doing our best. Good Apple is a hilarious, welcome celebration of the absurdity, chaos, and strange sacredness of life that brings us all together, whether we have city lights or starry skies in our eyes. More importantly, it’s about the God who pursues each of us, no matter our own inconsistencies or failures, and shows us the way back home.
- Thomas Nelson
- Hardcover
- January 2021
- 256 Pages
- 9781400218578
Buy the Book
$25.99
About Elizabeth Passarella
Elizabeth Passarella is a contributing editor for Southern Living, where she writes the “Social Graces” column. A former editor at Real Simple and Vogue, she has written about food, travel, home design, and parenting in outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Parents, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Coastal Living. Elizabeth was one of the first food writers hired at Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn, where she wrote daily posts and developed recipes. Her essay “Passing and Repasting,” about her grandmother’s funeral, was included in Cornbread Nation 1: The Best of Southern Food Writing. She lives in New York City.