Book Review — From Scratch by Tembi Locke

Actress and “Sliders” costar Tembi Locke explores how she transformed familial tragedy into growth and inspiration

Photo by the Author

I first became a fan of Tembi Locke’s acting when she joined the cast of the sci-fi action-adventure series Sliders in 1999. Locke played a physicist named Dr. Diana Davis, and quickly became my favorite character. Over the years, I’ve watched her in many other recurring TV roles.

But I was enraptured to learn about her 2019 personal memoir, where she recounts her courtship and marriage with late husband Saro Gullo — who passed away from soft-tissue cancer of the knee (leiomyosarcoma) in 2012. From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home contains 337 pages depicting the heartwarming — and heart-wrenching — journeys of the Locke-Gullo family spanning more than two decades.

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK

You don’t have to be a preexisting fan of Tembi Locke’s acting in order to appreciate her autobiographical joys and travails. I haven’t yet seen the Netflix limited TV series of the same title which had been adapted from this book. But, as a standalone memoir, From Scratch humanizes the long-term grieving process of someone who transitions from newlywed to adoptive mother to…