BOOK REVIEW: Cooking with Fernet Branca by James
Hamilton-Paterson
Those foodies out there who love to read their favourite
subject (well, food of course!) in the form of a novel as well as for those who
would like a little pizzazz on food crashing with a little romance will find
this book very much up your alley. The author has written a novel which
portrays modern Italy as one comic bad dream so get ready to be in stitches as
well as drool over the food descriptions and recipes thrown in for good effect.
Gerald Samper lives on a hilltop in Tuscany. An effete and
snobbish Englishman working as a ghostwriter for celebrities, he would prefer
to be remembered as a gourmet. His recipes include ‘Mussels in Chocolate’,
‘Garlic and Fernet Branca ice cream’ and a dish containing purèed prunes,
rhubarb, and smoked cat (off the bone).
Reluctantly, Gerald shares his hillside with Marta. As far
as he can see, she is a vulgar woman from a crime-ridden former Soviet
republic. She is also a composer in the neo-folk style who is writing a score
for a glamorous Italian film director – though Gerald can’t believe it.
The mutual misunderstandings of these two exiles, each in
search of a crowning success in the sunlight of Tuscany, get ever more
dangerous. To the music of black helicopters and bad opera, and oiled by large
quantities of the bitter aperitif Fernet Branca – all that either of them ever
seems to have around the house – the lives of these two unlikely neighbours
gradually and disastrously intertwine.
Well-written, this enthralling read brings you into the
lives of two unlikely characters who both share the same love of food and how
opposites attract. Funny and at times tear-jerking, this is one book that you
shouldn’t miss out on.
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