Cooking With Fernet Branca - James Hamilton-Paterson

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2004

Cooking with Fernet Branca is a gleefully tasteless bad dream of modern Italy, told through the eyes of Gerald Samper - effete Englishman, culinary adventurer, and ghostwriter to the stars.

'Wickedly witty . . . Anyone who does not add this hilarious divertimento to their summer reading list should be put on a forced diet of Gerald's inimitable Alien Pie.' Michael Dibdin,Guardian

'A deliciously nasty farce set in [Hamilton-Paterson's] adopted Tuscany . . . Cooking with Fernet Branca had me laughing out loud and uproariously. All Tuscanites should read it, preferably over a plate of stewed otter chunks in lobster sauce.' Sunday Telegraph

'Larded with bitter satire and piquant wit, at the expense, often, of its readers and their dreams of Italy . . . I laughed out loud several times a chapter.' The Times