by C Pam Zhang
First published 2023
The chef abandons her failing London restaurant as crops vanish worldwide and toxic smog chokes the air. She accepts work at a remote mountain estate where her mysterious employer and his daughter have created an impossible sanctuary for the wealthy. Here, real food still exists. The chef rediscovers forgotten flavors and her own suppressed desires through elaborate meals and intimate encounters. Her employers push her toward increasingly dangerous experiments in the kitchen and beyond. She finds herself at the heart of their radical plan to remake civilization itself. The chef must choose between the safety of her old boundaries and the intoxicating possibilities of this new world where pleasure and power intertwine.
Genres: fiction, science-fiction, dystopia, literary-fiction, 21st-century, food-and-drink
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family, power-dynamics
Setting: London, Mountain Estate
Period: 21st Century
217 pages · Hardcover · Hutchinson Heinemann
Content warnings: anxiety, depression