THE PLATED HEART
Diane Goodman
ISBN-13: 978-0-88748-452-0
Publication Date - June 15, 2006
Paper - $ 16.95, pp. 227
Distributed by Cornell University Press Services
P.O. Box 6525 Ithaca, NY 14850, 800-666-2211
Carnegie Mellon University Press is pleased to announce the publication of Diane Goodman's new collection of short stories, The Plated Heart.
In The Plated Heart, Diane Goodman explores the competing demands of nourishment and desire in stories about cooks,
caterers and private chefs in Miami Beach. Whether through the eyes of a caterer helplessly observing a disastrous family
dinner or the careful watch of a food vendor at a construction site, Goodman's characters reflect the inner lives of the people who serve and feed us.
In these seven stories you will meet Janine, an uneasy girl who learns how to cook to save her dying aunt; Wade, a tavern
owner whose grief has stolen his appetite; overweight personal chef Darlene whose skinny clients never really "see" her,
and other memorable characters who live and work on the periphery of the classes they serve.
Diane Goodman's first collection of short stories, The Genius of Hunger, was published in 2001 by Carnegie Mellon University Press. Her poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Indiana Review, and Negative Capability, and she has published a small collection of poetry under the title Constellations.
Diane Goodman received her Ph.D. in English from Case Western Reserve University and taught for ten years in the
English Department at Allegheny College. In 1999, she moved to Miami Beach, the locale of many of her stories and where
she has established her own catering company, Diane Cooks, Inc. When not catering or cooking, Goodman teaches fiction
writing at the University of Miami.
Praise for Diane Goodman's short stories in The Genius of Hunger:
"These stories are packed with life in all its struggles and its glory. The women in this gorgeous book stayed with me long
after I had finished reading it. The Genius of Hunger is the beginning of what I am sure will be Diane Goodman’s brilliant
career." - Ann Patchett
"Diane Goodman's first collection of stories, The Genius of Hunger, consists of portraits of ten different women. Well-to-do "Phyllis" organizes elaborate parties to fill a horrible void in her life; "Joan" is an overweight woman whose traumatic
experience in a gourmet market ends with a strange interaction with a beautiful teenage boy; and "Shiva" finds an anorexic
waitress named Marcie, abused as a child, wondering why she gets fired from every restaurant job she has. Using food as
a common theme, Goodman expertly cuts across class lines to reveal the souls of her memorable characters with subtlety
and compassion." - Publishers Weekly
"In a food-laced first collection, poet and former Allegheny College professor Goodman paints a series of portraits of women
battling for understanding in the face of an indifferent world. All ten pieces, set in Miami Beach, offer a backdrop of grocery stores and service-industry reality. Joan, in the story of her name, frets over her weight even as she shops for treats that her rude teenaged son will eat… Indian restaurant waitress Marcie, in "Shiva," is so focused on trying to keep her sari from falling off her emaciated body and praying to the goddess for help in forgetting her hunger while reliving her battered childhood and history of failed employment that she doesn’t even notice she's about to be fired. Feistier Gina, a Costco cashier, has a battle of wills with a brutish, possibly pistol-packing customer, then berates the matronly woman next in line for having allowed the lout to cut in front of her… Compassion and a steady eye from a bold new voice that deserves to be heard from again." - Kirkus Reviews
For more information about The Plated Heart, contact Leah Messina, Publicist, at leah@sinuatemedia.com or 917.843.8164 or Sharon Dilworth, Fiction Editor Carnegie Mellon University at sd20@andrew.cmu.edu or 412-268-6446.
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