Verwandte Artikel zu Feast
Inhaltsangabe
In 19th century France, a young woman with a magical sense of taste saves a duc from poison, and her new role as poison taster thrusts her into the world of the nobility, where secrets and danger lurk around every corner.
Minha is born on the backstreets of late-nineteenth-century London, daughter of an Indian spice merchant and an English prostitute. She has a remarkable gift--an incredible sense of taste. She can taste the earth in which potatoes are grown, or the tree on which fruits are ripened. She can smell each ingredient--and identify a single false note. But Minha's gift and her mixed-race heritage provoke mistrust and rejection, even within her own family. Escaping alone to France, Minha chances upon work in the Château de Bellefalaise, where for the first time her strange abilities are lauded. As official poison-taster for Duc Nicolas, Minha must taste every morsel of food that will pass his lips. Others in the household are hostile to her, and when she discovers a man hiding in the stables, their unexpected meeting turns into the first true connection she's felt since arriving in France. But mystery and paranoia continue to swirl around the château, with the Duc's poisoner unidentified, and antagonism toward Minha growing. She knows it's only a matter of time before fingers begin pointing her way. Will she run again, or is this the time to stand and fight? A thoroughly addictive novel about food, possession, race, love, and a young woman fighting to build a fulfilling life against all odds, in this gorgeously written debut by author Catherine Kurtz.Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.
Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor
Catherine Kurtz is a member of the Guild of Food Writers and a Grand Jury Member of the International Chocolate Awards. Her food journalism has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Spectator's Scoff, Harvest, ckbk, and Celebrated Living. In her fiction she explores the female experience, her mixed-race heritage, and the power of creativity. Kurtz is a painter represented by the Redfern Gallery and has an MA in Creative Writing from West Dean College.
Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Chapter 1
London, 1882
It was bread. Yes, bread that caused her infant self finally to stir. That peculiar alchemy that converts flour and yeast, in a well-seasoned oven, to what can only be called bliss. Minutes old, she could not taste it, not yet. But as the ovens were opened in the bakery below, and that infinitely tempting yeasted fug coiled up through bare floorboards, in through a single ill-fitting early-morning window, her round, dark eyes opened for the first time. A mirror pair, her father's, had been trained on her, full of concern. She was so still. His eyes brightened at this sign of life, restored to their usual carefree sparkle.
"Ju, it's all right, Ju, she's awake."
He lifted his gaze to a mattress across the room, on which a tangled lump of sheets did not bother to stir. He shifted his legs, leaning back against the wall behind him, better to accommodate his newborn daughter.
She shifted too, settling, not displeased by the handsome brown face smiling above her. Life had found her. She was held steady. She might, like her mother, lie in recovery from the trauma that is birth. But her body thrummed with purpose. Not just with excitement at whatever newly baked delicacies called her from what was certainly the finest bakery on the Strand. Closer to hand, the clothes in which she nestled, the arms of her father's shirt, were impregnated with a vibrant cocktail of spices. She opened her mouth, reaching.
"The baby's hungry, love."
Her father watched as she tasted the air, eyes wide. Then stood to take her over to her mother.
"Ju." He nudged the sheets.
They moaned.
"Judith."
The sheets cocooned themselves more tightly, then spoke.
"Take it away."
"It's a little girl."
"Take her away, then."
A shadow passed across his face.
They were unattended. Judith had been happy to strut with the handsome Indian sailor, ready and able to treat her well. His ship's cargo of cinnamon, cloves, and saffron made his presence in London a welcome one. But she was not so happy to show off the results of that liaison. A child that would be born not of an act of love. Not really. Not love for Qazi, with his ready laugh, and his swagger. But for the colored scarves, the rich sweets, and the steady supply of brandy he brought with him. When her belly had started to compromise the figure she cut at his side, she let the city swallow them. They holed themselves up in this attic above the Strand bakery. They waited. Alone. And increasingly frustrated with each other.
She wished he didn't remain so tall, so glowing, his body firm and brown and now a world away from the swelling gray-pink mass she had become. She wished she hadn't succumbed to that body and in so doing lost her own. Would she get her old body back, the one that tempted, the one that put food on the table?
He wished she did more than grunt at him. Show some appreciation for the supply of food he brought her. For the fact that he didn't simply move back on board ship. His business in England was almost done; the ship would sail in a month. He would be on it.
When it came to it, Judith could have done with an attendant. She could have done without the glamorous and irresistible man who had got her into trouble. And she could have done entirely without the trouble itself, another mouth to feed. But then, perhaps, if there had been another female in attendance, someone who saw the color of the infant's skin, and the distress on the exhausted woman's face, maybe they would have obeyed when she cried, "Take it away."
Qazi rallied, nudged the reluctant mother with a foot, and grinned. He smiled the broad and easy smile that had so beguiled her.
"Don't talk nonsense, Ju. She's a peach."
The peach twitched her minuscule nose. Judith grunted.
"She is. She's a gift. Our gift. That is her name, I think. Minha. It means gift."
He looked at his soon-to-be ex-lover for approval of his choice, her bare pink-and-white upper half emerging from the sheets. Her expression was blank. He looked at his daughter, whose shining eyes fixed on his, whose reaching mouth curled up at the edges, as if with amusement, with joy. Whose very being glowed.
"Minha it is, then."
He dropped a kiss on her forehead, and bent to hand her over. Judith lifted her heavy self, reached for her daughter without looking. Without a glance for the person, who was even then building herself, taking in her share of the sights and sounds around her. And more than her share of all that reached her nose, her tender baby mouth. Her father may have considered her a gift, named her so. But she was also, already, in her first moments, just beginning to discover her gift. Her peculiar, unwieldy, and precious gift.
Minha's gift was her sense of taste. Her ability to savor. Big, bold tango and fandango on her tongue. The shift, the hint, the smallest component of flavor eked out and found, considered, remembered. When the unwanted fairy godmother, unseen and unknown, turned up at her birth, she did not bequeath a prophecy, or a fairy-tale ending. No. She endowed the infant Minha with the ability to experience, wildly, vividly, appetite.
Chapter 2
The Northern French Coast, 1899
Her eyes smarted at the sea breeze but her determined gaze was rewarded. Eventually, light blossomed. At first over sea and sky, only distinguishable by the faint shifting gloss of the water, that tender August early-morning light that knows that most are still in bed. When land appeared, Minha gasped, then flung a hand over her mouth to stifle the cry of joy. She had done it! How extraordinary. She, who had lived her whole life in England, and the last years of it never leaving a few small Kentish acres. Arrival across an ocean, to a new land. To France.
She was arriving and she was flung back far away. In memory of her father, arriving in foreign lands on unknown boats. He might be doing so still. Perhaps, like her, unsure how he would be received. Standing tall though, she was sure of that. She gathered something of his spirit to her. If ever there was a time to be her father's daughter . . .
The portion of land they were fast approaching was made of wide sand flats. Beyond that, sometimes clusters of what looked like cottages, sometimes trees. She looked, but could not yet see a harbor or town. Then she was unable to look, as the crew up on deck increased in number. She ducked back down into her lifeboat hiding place. Breath held, the discomfort of her hard wooden bed now becoming unbearable, and worse as the day's warmth began to gather itself. After what must have been hours, Minha felt the ship finally halt with profound relief. The deck seemed swarming with men. After the best part of a day and night in such cramped quarters, she would have to stand soon, and stretch out the tension in her back, her shoulders. She exhaled when the footsteps started to diminish in number. The thud of feet landing elsewhere, alongside. The thump of ropes thrown and caught. The rhythm of the line of men, lifting, passing, unloading the cargo.
The ship lifted in the water. She could feel its wooden body lighten, hear the shift and thump in its belly go quiet, the creak and spin of wheels. All nearby voices, gone. A bustle still though, farther off. This wasn't the silence of the countryside.
Minha peeled back the untied corner of canvas, and hauled herself up and out of the lifeboat. She stood, wobbly on numb feet. Steadying herself on the side of her little wooden resting place, she looked up. Straight into the thin, startled face of one of the sailors. She stumbled back. The sailor, who didn't look much older than her, paused, despite already having flung a fist in the air. His mouth hung open. His eyes were wide, not so much menacing as shocked, as they took...
„Über diesen Titel“ kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.
Suchergebnisse für Feast
Beispielbild für diese ISBN
Feast
Anbieter: Magers and Quinn Booksellers, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Verkäuferbewertung 5 von 5 Sternen
hardcover. Zustand: New. Brand New. Artikel-Nr. 1546795
Neu kaufen
EUR 32,31
EUR 3,43 Versand
Versand innerhalb von USA
Versand innerhalb von USA
Anzahl: 3 verfügbar
Foto des Verkäufers
Feast
Anbieter: AHA-BUCH GmbH, Einbeck, Deutschland
Verkäuferbewertung 5 von 5 Sternen
Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - In nineteenth-century France, a young woman with a magical sense of taste saves a duc from poison, and her new role as poison taster thrusts her into the world of the nobility, where secrets and danger lurk around every corner. Minha is born on the backstreets of late nineteenth-century London, the daughter of an Indian spice merchant and an English prostitute. She has a remarkable gift: an incredible sense of taste. She can taste the earth in which potatoes were grown or the tree on which fruits have ripened. She can smell each ingredient--and identify a single false note. But Minha's gift and her mixed-race heritage provoke mistrust and rejection, even within her own family. Escaping alone to France, Minha chances upon work in the Château de Bellefalaise, where for the first time her strange abilities are lauded. As official poison taster for Duc Nicolas, Minha must taste every morsel of food that will pass his lips. Others in the household are hostile to her, but when she discovers a man hiding in the stables, their unexpected meeting turns into the first true connection she's felt since arriving in France. But mystery and paranoia continue to swirl around the château, with the Duc's poisoner unidentified and antagonism toward Minha growing. She knows it's only a matter of time before fingers begin pointing her way. Will she run again, or is this the time to stand and fight A thoroughly addictive novel about food, possession, race, love, and a young woman fighting to build a fulfilling life against all odds, this is a gorgeously written debut by author Catherine Kurtz. Artikel-Nr. 9798217191031
Neu kaufen
EUR 35,74
EUR 30,50 Versand
Versand von Deutschland nach USA
Versand von Deutschland nach USA
Anzahl: 2 verfügbar