Much has been written and filmed about The ALL CANDY (now SWEETS AND SNACKS) Expo but the show has a new role as a supporting character in a yummy new novel by Katherine Katharine Weber, True Confections.
You may remember Katharine because she visited the 2008 and 2009 Expo where she spoke with many candy industry members.
Katharine captures well the agony and ecstasy of owning and operating the family candy business, Zip’s Candies and traces the Ziplinsky family into the 4th generation of sweet success and disappointing failures. A telephone conversation with Katharine revealed she gleaned the essence and history of family candy making as she spoke with members of the Born, Goetze, Karl (Annabelle), Rosenberg (Promotion in Motion), Spangler and Palmer families, among others.
True Confections is a witty novel filled with flawed characters trying to make a business out of candy. While far from a PR piece for the industry it’s clear that several generations of the Ziplinsky family quite simply love the candy business. They love it as immigrants to the U.S, because candy is inexpensive to produce and the variety of product possibilities easily leads to innovation. They love it through natural and manmade, personal and professional disasters. They love it for its do-it-yourself possibilities. Who can’t identify with the family working day and night to come up with a new product and packaging for a trade show only to discover that they perhaps should have done a bit of consumer research before introducing it in these modern times when a single blog, review or video can spread through the internet like wildfire—destroying a product before it is ever launched.
Now here is something really interesting. Readers have told Katharine they remember the entirely fictional “Little Sammies” candy line. And even better, Katherine has given Zip’s Candies a fictional candy company website and narrator Alice Ziplinsky is on Facebook (sort of).
Have you read True Confections? Tell us what you thought.
Larry McMurtry’s Book Store by MyEyeSees.
Editor’s note (4 Feb 2010 9:54 a.m.): We regret spelling Ms. Weber’s name as Katherine when the proper spelling is Katharine. The first instance was noted with a strikethrough and following instances have been corrected.
1:50 pm on February 3rd, 2010
True Confections is a wonderful book, funny and filled with realistic details of the candy business. The story has been thoroughly researched, resulting in a true to life rendition of our unique candy universe. This novel is both plot and character driven, so in my view it is the best of both worlds. Katherine Weber is a master story teller with great wit and empathy. A fabulous read, I highly recommend it.
4:52 pm on February 4th, 2010
For those of you who may not be aware, Susan is the President of Annabelle Candy Company (Abba-Zabba, Rocky Road, Big Hunk). Susan’s grandfather, Sam Altshuler, a Russian immigrant, founded the company.