Sandwich

Catherine Newman is an American author, memoirist, and food writer who has published works for both adults and children. Although her texts vary in subject and scope, Newman is particularly attuned to the micro-world of the nuclear family, and her writing evidences a keen interest in how family members both shape and are shaped by one another. Although her literary family portraits are complex, complete, and feature well-developed female and male characters, Newman’s insight into the gendered experience of women in families has garnered especially positive feedback from readers and critics alike. Sandwich (2024) is her second novel, following We All Want Impossible Things (2022), which was a critical and commercial success.

Newman’s interest in writing began early, and she obtained an undergraduate degree from Amherst College in 1990 followed by a PhD in literature from the University of Santa Cruz. Initially interested in food and lifestyle writing, Newman authored the blog Ben & Birdy and was a regular contributor to The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Chop Chop, and many others. Although her novels focus on friendships and family relationships, her interest in food and the culinary arts remains evident in her writing. Sandwich uses food symbolically to explore the changing nature of parent-child bonds as children pass from adolescence into early adulthood and parents enter middle age. However, Newman also uses food to paint a cultural portrait: Many of the foods that Rocky and her parents favor showcase the richness of their Jewish heritage as the family grapples with the generational trauma of having lost relatives to the Holocaust. Food then becomes a kind of positive cultural touchstone that helps the family focus on the resilience of Jewish culture rather than on its historical tragedies.

Newman’s first novel, We All Want Impossible Things (2022), centers on terminal illness and friendship but also explores several of the same themes as Sandwich. Like Sandwich, much of its “action” takes place in the form of interior monologue, and its protagonist is self-reflective, insightful, and interested in analyzing the role that mortality, loss, and friendship play in her life. These kinds of depictions characterize Newman’s writing as a whole, and she is emerging as an important new voice within a corner of the literary world that focuses on self-reflection and the gendered experiences of women as they age. Other contemporary authors who address women’s aging experience include Shelby Van Pelt (Remarkably Bright Creatures), Annie Lyons (The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett), and Beth O’Leary (The Switch).

Newman has also authored two memoirs, Catastrophic Happiness (2016) and Waiting for Birdy (2005). Like her novels, these works explore parenting and family life. Catastrophic Happiness details the chaotic experience of raising a toddler, and Waiting for Birdy chronicles Newman’s pregnancy as she parents her first child. Newman brings her expertise as a writer to these texts but also shares the trials and tribulations of parenting in her characteristically frank style, creating narratives that are both instructive and relatable. Her children’s books also blend humor with wisdom, and she is the author of the middle grade novel One Mixed-Up Night (2017) as well as the best-selling “how-to” books How to Be a Person (2020) and What Can I Say? (2022). Each of these books explores the experiences of childhood in a way that Newman hopes will appeal to young readers and their parents alike.