John Saturnall's Feast

July 9, 2012
Food, history, and romance add layers of flavor to Norfolk’s (In the Shape of a Boar) lush new novel, his first in a decade, about an accused witch’s son who becomes a noble family’s “Top Chef” during the English Civil War. Alternating protagonist-hero John Saturnall’s charmingly antique recipes with the narrative of his occasionally brutal life, Norfolk depicts 17th-century England as a land savaged by political turmoil and religious persecutors. While just a boy, John runs away with his mother from a village mob, taking refuge in a place known as Buccla’s Wood, where she teaches him about the earth’s bounty, but then dies before revealing all her secrets. John soon finds himself tied to a saddle and transported across the Vale to Buckland Manor. There, he works his way up from kitchen boy to “Master Cook,” his culinary gifts blossoming along with his feelings for Lucretia Fremantle, daughter of the lord of the manor. John and Lucretia revive the feast that brings together highborn and low, rich and poor. Despite their efforts, warring factions manage to cause mayhem at the manor, leaving John with the unhappy task of preparing a wedding banquet for Lucretia and her cruel cousin. Artfully told with folkloric undertones, Norfolk’s tale features bruised dreamers seeking sensory respite from their abusers in settings ranging from the kitchen to the battlefield. Known for intellectual prose and complex plots, Norfolk this time out attempts to interweave time and senses, reality and myth, rewarding steadfast readers with savory recipes and a bittersweet upstairs-downstairs love story. Agent: Carole Blake, Blake Friedmann.

September 15, 2012
A historical coming-of-age tale of a person and a time period (17th-century England), this is the story of a cook and his eponymous cookbook and an allegory of service and human purpose. Norfolk's fourth novel arrives years after the well-reviewed In the Shape of a Boar (2001). John Saturnall is the son of a witch. Or is he? He lives with his mother, who roams with her collecting bag. The center of her life is the hearth, the pot where she brews her potions--the book of recipes her bible. John's mother catechizes him with this book of earthy delights. Then the Reformation asserts itself in Buckland village in the lank-haired form of Timothy Marpot, and a plague arrives shortly thereafter. Sin, with its immense explanatory power, sin that demands correction and expiation, leads to the search for sinners: John and his mother are victimized. Their lives appear heretical. Exiled from home, John is sent to the Manor at the opposite end of the vale. There, he grows into his calling as a cook in the clattering kitchens of Master Scovell; into his consciousness of class and the wages of factional warfare; and into his awareness of the importance of his mother's holy book. What might it mean if the feast belonged to all and not merely to the cook who prepares or the guest who partakes? Norfolk assembles his Dickensian confection of character and incident that includes love and war to dramatize this pungent question. If his characters occasionally verge on caricature, if the foreshadows fall as hard as the executioner's axe, neither weakness subtracts from the plot's satisfactions, arriving steadily as a banquet's courses. Offers much to savor, notably the details of cooking and the central question: how preparing food is different than merely cooking it.

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July 1, 2012

Since cave-dwelling days, humans have been hunting and gathering and preparing trophies for eating. By the 17th century, when this novel takes place, cooking had advanced beyond the roasting of meat over an open fire into the art of gastronomy. From an early age, John Saturnall has been tutored by his mother, an herbalist believed to be a witch, to assist her and understand the subtleties of the kitchen. Upon her death after she and her son are forced from their village, John is dispatched to the estate of Sir William Fremantle, where his mother once worked. As he rises in the ranks from scullery boy to assistant master cook, he catches the eye of Sir William's feisty daughter, Lucretia. When she is promised in marriage to the loathsome Piers Callock, whose family's close connection will ensure the estate's inheritance, she launches a hunger strike in protest. John is presented with the challenge of creating food that will persuade her to eat. VERDICT Sumptuous recipes and food descriptions intensify the seductive love story of John and Lucretia, turning a tasty treat into a literary feast. [See Prepub Alert, 4/19/12.]--Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Kingston, ON

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2012
It's seventeenth-century England, and John's mother is accused of witchcraft. The two flee their village to seek refuge in the woods, where she imparts to him knowledge of an ancient ritual, a great feast celebrating the gifts of the earth. She dies from starvation shortly thereafter, and John is sent to work at Buckland Manor, where his innate culinary gift is discovered. He cooks for the lord of the manor, for visiting nobles, even for the king, and eventually rises to the position of head cook. When the lord's daughter, Lucretia, refuses to eat, John cooks to entice her out of her fast. The two fall in love, but the English Civil War ensues, and Lucretia is already promised in marriage. Pagan and Christian traditions collide in this sweeping tale of love and legend. Beautiful imagery and captivating details bring the story to life, while descriptions of culinary treats make one's mouth water. Norfolk's unique and sensuous blending of history and myth will appeal to those who love Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda (1989) and Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall (2009) as well as to his own devotees.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)