Pleasures of the flesh - Laurence Haloche

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.