If you enjoy Depression-era historical fiction, Cutie Pies by the Slice will definitely be one to add to your reading list this autumn. Set in the twenties to thirties, the novel is Kimberly Nixon’s latest work of family-inspired historical fiction. Following her earlier novel, Rock Bottom, Tennessee, this book is reportedly inspired by her mother’s best friend, who lived in a mob-filled city in northwest Ohio during this time. The book isn’t due for release until October 6, 2026, but I had the chance to read an early copy, so I wanted to share my thoughts ahead of publication. Thank you to the author for giving me the opportunity.
The novel follows Lila Young, a young woman who arrives in Lima, Ohio, in the late 1920s after burying her mother and discovering unsettling secrets about her long-lost father. Determined to build a life of her own, Lila starts a job as a telephone operator and moves into a boardinghouse. There, she will slowly assemble a found family out of her fellow boarders, especially Agnes and Maggie, who become the sisters she never had.
When the Depression costs her that job, Lila leans into her lifelong love of baking, something that connects her to her late mother, and opens her own pie shop, Cutie Pies by the Slice, selling happiness by the slice for a dime at a time when a whole pie is out of reach for most people. Along the way, she gets pulled into a slow-burn relationship with Vern, a kind but complicated man who works as a doorman for a local mob-run speakeasy, and eventually discovers her business has been used to launder mob money without her knowledge. Meanwhile, she must deal with a Prohibition-era crime operation that threatens to pull Lila and her little pie shop into danger.
First and foremost, I found this to be an enjoyable and educational read on the time period. It does a lovely job of capturing the small details of the era, from telephone switchboards to Prohibition speakeasies to the anxious hush of Depression-era bank runs, without ever feeling like a history lesson. It reminded me a little of a John Steinbeck novel, but much cozier, minus the crushing bleakness and heavier themes his work tends to carry. And honestly, the characters are the best part of this book. They’re generally all really likeable, or at least deeply easy to sympathize with, even when they’re flawed.
I really loved Lila. She’s a fantastic protagonist who doesn’t give up even when life keeps knocking her down, such as losing her mother, losing her job and being let down again and again by the men who are supposed to be in her corner. Watching her push forward anyway, whether it’s walking door to door in the snow looking for any work she can find, or scraping together the funds to buy a single bag of sugar so she can keep baking through the night, made her story of resilience enjoyable and easy to root for. I also loved the “follow your dreams” thread running through the book. The moment Lila decides to open her pie shop, which of course gives the novel its title, feels like a real turning point, and it’s satisfying to watch her turn her mother’s old pie recipes into a real, thriving business, slice by slice.
The supporting cast deserves credit too. Agnes in particular stands out as the kind of loyal, no-nonsense friend everyone wishes they had, and her steady presence gives the book much of its emotional warmth. Even more complicated characters, like Lila’s brother Earl, are drawn with enough nuance that you understand their choices even when you’re frustrated with them, which made the family dynamics feel real rather than one-dimensional.
One thing I appreciated is that the book isn’t told entirely from Lila’s point of view. It dips into other characters’ perspectives too, including Vern’s and even the investigators tracking the mob’s activity, which keeps things from feeling one-note. I particularly liked the subplot with Vern; his entanglement with the mob and Lila’s slow realization of what he’s been doing behind her back gives the book some real stakes without tipping it into full crime-thriller territory. It’s definitely a cozy book overall, the kind of read you pick up to escape into for a while, even though it doesn’t shy away from tackling some tough topics like grief.
Nixon’s prose has an easy, unfussy readability to it that suits the story well. There’s a warmth to her sentences that never tips into overwrought sentimentality, even in the book’s heavier moments. She has a nice touch with period detail, too, folding in the small textures of the era (iceboxes, old telephones, Sears catalog payment plans) so naturally that the setting feels real rather than researched, but just as relatable as modern times. The dialogue occasionally leans a bit expository, particularly when characters are catching each other up on plot developments, but it rarely slows the pacing for long.
Thematically, the novel is really about the families we choose versus the ones we’re born into, but it explores its motifs with a light enough hand that it never feels heavy-handed. Beyond the found-family thread, the novel also has a lot to say about the resilience it takes to keep going when circumstances outside your control keep chipping away at the life you’re trying to build. There’s a quote late in the book that stuck with me, when Lila is riding the trolley home and reflecting on the men who’ve disappointed her:
The first slice tells the truth about a pie’s ingredients. It seemed the same thing could be said of men—when they show what they’re made of, believe them.
It’s a resonating sentiment and lesson for a lot of people who try to look for the best in people, even when they let them down repeatedly.
Honestly, the whole book reminded me a lot of Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín, in the way it follows a young woman rebuilding her life in a new town after loss. It also somewhat gave me strong Waitress vibes (the film), with its mix of small-town charm, baking-as-healing and a heroine finding her own path outside of the men around her. Like those comparisons suggest, this isn’t a plot-driven page-turner so much as a slow, satisfying character study that will stick with you.
Final Verdict: For fans of Christina Baker Kline, Fiona Davis, and Kristin Hannah, Cutie Pies by the Slice is a heartfelt, hopeful read about resilience, the courage it takes to build a life from scratch, while never losing hope.
You can get your copy of Cutie Pies by the Slice here!
