Ginny Selvaggio, a twenty-six-year-old woman with undiagnosed Asperger's whose parents have recently both died, is shocked to discover that she can summon people's ghosts by cooking and eating food from recipes that they wrote. When the ghost of Nonna Selvaggio delivers the cryptic message "Do no let her," Ginny investigates to find out what she means. Along the way she discovers evidence of family secrets, including twenty-nine photos taken by her dad of a mysterious woman and a letter hidden in the chimney.
The Kitchen Daughter contains examples of:
- Basement-Dweller: Ma never let Ginny move out. She always said they'd talk about it when Ginny finished college, but Ginny was never able to complete her Oral Communications class.
- Citizenship Marriage: The Selvaggios' housekeeper, Gert, married her late husband Umberto at a young age so she could get out of Cuba. By the time she realized how abusive he was, it was too late - divorcing him would mean being a single mother of two young boys in an unfamiliar country, so she stayed. She was eventually able to leave with the help of Ginny's ma, who paid her enough to afford her own place.
- Eyes Always Averted: Ginny finds eye contact painful, and never makes it unless she has to. Her sister Amanda uses her "inability" to look people in the face as evidence that she's incapable of making her own decisions.
- Fleeting Passionate Hobbies: In addition to her lifelong passion for cooking, Ginny has had a number of short-lived obsessions, including round objects, bending spoons with ESP, Turkish rug patterns, and letters written by nuns, which consumed her for months and then were forgotten.
- Happy Place: Ginny calms herself by imagining that she's cooking or eating food. The more stressed she is, the more elaborate the imagined meal is.
- Hates Being Touched: Ginny can't stand to be touched by anyone other than her family, and even then not very much. Before Ma died, Ginny never went out in public without her, because if a stranger brushed against her, she might scream.
- Jacob and Esau: Ma got along better with Amanda, who was more of a "regular daughter," than with Ginny, who had little in common with her besides a love of cooking, and with whom she was always getting in arguments. Meanwhile, Ginny was a lot closer to Dad, who had undiagnosed Asperger's like she did. Amanda always felt like Dad didn't like her.
- My Beloved Smother: Although Ginny was an adult, Ma still wouldn't let her drink, go on dates, get a job, move out, or go to other cities alone.
- Sensory Overload: Ginny gets overwhelmed by the other people at her parents' funeral, at the supermarket, and when Amanda brings prospective buyers to tour the house. She calms herself by hiding in the closet.
- Shared Family Quirks: Ginny's dad used to tap his fingers in the same pattern she does.
- Sleep Mask: When Ginny summons Ma's ghost, she's wearing one around her neck, as she and Dad both died of carbon monoxide poisoning in their sleep.
- Survivor Guilt: Gert's son David's wife was killed in a car crash last year. David was driving. He's spent the last year obsessing over everything he could have done differently to prevent her death.
- Troubled Fetal Position: After another reminder of the loss of their parents, Amanda curls up in a ball between the vanity and the wall.
