Out of Line Lib/E: A Life of Playing with Fire

Celebrated chef Barbara Lynch credits the defiant spirit of her upbringing in tough, poor Southie, a neighborhood ruled by the notorious Whitey Bulger gang, with helping her bluff her way into her first professional cooking jobs; develop a distinct culinary style through instinct and sheer moxie; then dare to found an empire of restaurants ranging from a casual but elegant clam shack to Boston's epitome of modern haute cuisine. One of seven children born to an overworked single mother, Lynch was raised in a housing project. She earned a daredevil reputation for boosting vehicles (even a city bus), petty theft, drinking and doing drugs, and narrowly escaping arrest--haunted all the while by a painful buried trauma. Out of Line describes Lynch's remarkable process of self-invention, including her encounters with colorful characters of the food world, and vividly evokes the magic of creation in the kitchen. It is also a love letter to South Boston and its vanishing culture, governed by Irish Catholic mothers and its own code of honor. Through her story, Lynch explores how the past--both what we strive to escape from and what we remain true to--can strengthen and expand who we are.