John Saturnall's Feast

by Lawrence Norfolk

A beautiful, rich and sensuous historical novel, John Saturnall's Feast tells the story of a young orphan who becomes a kitchen boy at a manor house, and rises through the ranks to become the greatest Cook of his generation. It is a story of food, star-crossed lovers, ancient myths and one boy's rise from outcast to hero.

Orphaned when his mother dies of starvation, having been cast out of her village as a witch, John is taken in at the kitchens at Buckland Manor, where he quickly rises from kitchen-boy to Cook, and is known for his uniquely keen palate and natural cooking ability. However, he quickly gets on the wrong side of Lady Lucretia, the aristocratic daughter of the Lord of the Manor. In order to inherit the estate, Lucretia must wed, but her fiance is an arrogant buffoon. When Lucretia takes on a vow of hunger until her father calls off her engagement to her insipid husband-to-be, it falls to John to try to cook her delicious foods that might tempt her to break her fast.

Reminiscent of Wolf Hall and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, John Saturnall's Feast is a brilliant work and a delight for all the senses.

• ISBN10: 0802120512
• ISBN13: 9780802120519
• Publish Date: 4 September 2012
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 29 August 2014
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[elvinagb]

Reading that this book was about food and history I was intrigued have a copy to read. I had not read anything by this author before. I was quickly captivated by the language and descriptions of plants, animals and the life lived by the main characters.
Young John Sandall lives with his mother in the village of Buckland is early 17th century England. He is an outcast as others in the village believe his mother to be a witch, but they still come to her for cures and advise. As young children begin to die, John and his mother are run out of the village and they go far into the woods to live in an abandoned garden. There John's mother teaches him to read her book of recipes and tells him the story of a great feast. John is orphaned and goes to live in Buckland Manor house and begins his journey from lowly kitchen boy to become John Saturnall,one of the greatest cooks known. His unique palate and natural skills take him to lead the household kitchens. He eventually must coax Lucretia, the daughter of the Manor's Lord to eat when she refuses to wed to keep her inheritance. Amidst the Civil War between the King's Cavaliers and Cromwell's Roundheads that threatens the lives of all in the household, John and Lucretia's story unfolds with descriptions of the way people lived and worked and ate. A brilliant work that was over 12 years in the making from a great storyteller.