Mangoes and Quince : A Novel

An intoxicating novel about a woman who seduces an entire city with the exotic fare she creates in her home-run restaurant.

Best-selling cookbook author Carol Field turns her talent to fiction in Mangoes and Quince. A feast of the imagination, Mangoes and Quince tells the story of Miranda, abandoned in Amsterdam by her husband Anton, who disappeared into the South Seas. Marooned, but restlessly inspired, Miranda expresses her passion by cooking. But as the restaurant she builds in Anton's ancestral home grows increasingly popular-and along with it, Miranda-her daughter Diana recedes into a world of longing for her lost father.

Under the spell of a manipulative anthropologist, Diana sneaks into her father's two locked private rooms and unearths a trove of strange, local fetishes. Tucked within one sculpture, Diana finds a note from her father. . .

Part mystery, part love story, part family drama-and with original recipes scattered throughout-Mangoes and Quince is a lush and sensuous tale, sure to please.

“As her books grow in number on my shelf, so does my appreciation and admiration for Carol Field...” —Alice Waters, author of the Chez Panisse Cookbook

“...an intensely felt, delicately written novel bursting with love and the pleasures of the senses.” —Mark Childress, author of Crazy in Alabama

“...a complex, fascinating, sensual read.” —Lynn Freed, author of The Mirror

“An alluring fable of exotic places, sinister rites and delicious tastes of all kinds--complete with recipes.” —Diane Johnson, author of Le Divorce

“Enticing...Mouthwateringly sensuous descriptions of food and its preparation” —Booklist

“Juicy ...Mangoes and Quince is a book that makes you hungry while you read.” —L.A. Times

“...beautifully evokes the frenetic pace of the kitchen...engaging, sensuous...” —San Francisco Chronicle

“...a lusty fairy tale ripe with mystery, monkeys, sexuality and sensual food...[a] treasure chest of a book.” —Seattle Times

“...mighty tasty...part mystery, part love story.” —Portland Oregonian

“...a feast of the imagination...” —San Jose Mercury News

“Carol Field has created a spicy brew of mystery and suspense” —Dallas Morning News