Kurtz, Catherine: Feast

'A lush and sensory novel . . .This is a story that lingers' - Emma Pei Yin, author of When Sleeping Women Wake 'Feast held me in its thrall from the first page and never let go . . . an immersive, enthralling, extraordinary piece of historical fiction' - Rachel Blackmore, author of Costanza -- In the soot-streaked alleys of 19th-century London, Minha is a girl unlike any other - born with an extraordinary gift: an overwhelming, all-consuming sense of taste. Desperate to escape a life of poverty, she crosses the sea to France, chasing the shimmer of a better future. At Château de Bellef alaise, a grand estate with fairytale turrets perched above a sleepy village, Minha's talent is discovered when she detects poison in a dish about to be served to the château's master, Duc Nicolas. For the first time in her life, her strange ability becomes her salvation - and her curse. Appointed the Duc's personal poison-taster, she is confined to her tasting room and forced to live in the chateau's shadows. With each dish, she enters a world of glittering porcelain and gilded secrets, where danger simmers beneath every course... But when she loses her miraculous gift and suspicion coils through the corridors, Minha must confront a terrifying truth: without her gift, who is she - and what remains of the life she's fought so hard to build? Feast is a sumptuous historical novel brimming with intrigue and sensory wonder - a dark fairytale for readers who love Jessie Burton, Elizabeth Macneal and Bridget Collins. -- 'A beautiful book, vivid and delicious and alive . . . I loved it' - Alex Hay, author of The Housekeepers 'Feast is a tasty read, a fantastic novel filled with glorious detail and deliciously vivid story-telling . . . I highly recommend it' - Salena Godden, author of Mrs Death Misses Death 'A novel to savour, bursting with rich delights' - Laura Wilkinson, author of Redemption Song 'Sensuous and richly imagined' - Beth Miller, author of The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright 'Where Perfume traced the pursuit of power, Feast examines a life of resistance' - Mark A Radcliffe, author of Three Gifts 'Kurtz is the real deal - an absolute original' - Mick Jackson, author of The Underground Man