First published 2014
Lilla sits in her treasure-filled bedroom at age one hundred, elegant in black lace and diamonds. Her great-grandchildren see only mystery and glamour. They know nothing of the Japanese prison camps where she spent much of World War II, or the elaborate cookbook she created to survive behind barbed wire. Born in 1882 to English parents in the Chinese port city of Chefoo, Lilla grows up knowing both privilege and want. Food becomes her constant companion and salvation. From Shanghai noodles to British India chutneys, she learns that good meals can carry someone toward happiness. Her life spans two world wars, an unwise marriage, family conflicts, and personal tragedy. In the prison camp, starving and desperate, she composes a magical food journal filled with cream puffs and butterscotch rather than the rotten vegetables and donkey meat of reality. The cookbook, now preserved in London's Imperial War Museum, transforms her darkest hours into dreams of comfort and safety.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, biography-memoir, culinary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: China, Chefoo, Shanghai, British India, London, Imperial War Museum
Period: 1882, World War II
ebook · Random House
Content warnings: war