Pleasures of the Flesh: Translated from the French by Rory

by Laurence Haloche (Author)

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  2000

  $3.47

  Figeac, 1768. In the forbidding shadow of the gallows, young Malvina Raynal is forced to watch her parents hang for murder - their crime is the killing and eating of guests staying at their inn. The punishment is death.

  Tainted by their evil, Malvina's own life follows a black path: her outstanding talent for cuisine is put to good use by a Parisian apothecary in the mysterious development of sinister but effective 'health pastilles', which taste magnificent and cure all ills. But unhealthy obsession drives Malvina into a destructive love affair where she demonstrates affection with the preparation of lavish and sumptuous dishes created from increasingly unwholesome ingredients . . .

  Reminiscent of Patrick Suskind's Perfume, Pleasures of the Flesh is a powerful and compelling gothic novel about food, flesh and frightening depravity.