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Land of Milk and Honey

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Land of Milk and Honey

By: C Pam Zhang
Narrated by: Eunice Wong
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Brought to you by Penguin.

A rapturous novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world

A smog has spread, food is disappearing, and a chef escapes her career in London to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony: an experiment in a new way of living and eating. There, her mysterious employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste and touch. Before long, she is pushed to discover the real nature of the project: a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the place.

Land of Milk and Honey is a striking novel about food, sex and the intricacies of desire.

'A startling prose hymn to food and sex, love and violence' GUARDIAN
'Unique, ambitious, haunting' GABRIELLE ZEVIN
'Truly exceptional' ROXANE GAY
'Superb' DOUGLAS STUART
'It’s hard not be mesmerised by prose that is as rich and as startling as the food her protagonist prepares' OBSERVER
'An astounding book' CALEB AZUMAH NELSON
'The most sensual novel about food I have ever read' EMMA DONOGHUE

©2023 C Pam Zhang (P)2023 Penguin Audio

 Dystopian Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy United States World Literature Fiction Chef
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Critic reviews

Truly superb (Douglas Stuart)
A brilliant, near-future fairytale, LAND OF MILK AND HONEY is the most sensuous novel about food I've ever read (Emma Donoghue)
It’s a captivating story that is alien without being too far-fetched. Zhang’s writing is laden with metaphors – particularly around food and sex – and while this could risk being overwritten, it fits the story perfectly. It’s a genius balance of page-turning storytelling and lyrical prose
Sensual . . . This is a rich novel of ideas, insisting on moral complexity in the end times. It’s also a startling prose hymn to food and sex, love and violence, power and resistance
Zhang constructs an unsettling, vertiginous world. Her ornate style reflects the opulence her characters guard so closely, her command of sensory language is impressive, and it’s hard not be mesmerised by prose that is as rich and as startling as the food her protagonist prepares
It's rare to read anything that feels this unique. A richly imagined, ambitious, and haunting novel (Gabrielle Zevin)
Land of Milk and Honey is truly exceptional (Roxane Gay)
Zhang writes with the same fierce artistry, vivid detail and microscopic precision that would make even her own Michelin-star characters proud – an exceptionally and uniquely written tale of greed, optimism and the pursuit of perfection in the face of scarcity (Sofia Akel)
Land of Milk and Honey is a sharp, sensual piece of art. Zhang writes about the appetites of the body, the uneasy coexistence of scarcity and plenty, and the pleasure and debasement of what is surrendered to survive. This is an incredible exploration of whether it is possible to preserve one's art when answering to a master that is not yourself. When I read I'm always searching for pleasure, for the want, and this book helped me feel something (Raven Leilani)
Land of Milk and Honey is as much a parable as a novel about the murky morals of the 0.1 per cent club. Required reading for them and a tasty treat for everyone else
All stars
Most relevant
The writing in this book is an example of the use of descriptions and metaphors gone too far. What should be simple depictions are tedious and create a never-ending monotony that weighs down the book. I'm not sure how the editor or publisher gave the book a stamp of approval unless they cared more about pretentious art than readers. I listened to the audiobook, but I understand the dialogue in the physical copy is in italics…. says it all. Is this the kind of work that wins awards these days?

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