Strange ways - Luc Lang

This is a love story, narrated by one of the protagonists, Henry Blain, a prison cook. Blain, sixty-something Liverpudlian, is an unreconstructed male, Shakespeare lover, adulterator of food, and a murderer. The prison he works in is called Strangeways. The love affair, with a 50 year old reporter with the Anglican tribune, takes place against the background of the 1990 seige. At first vilified by the prisoners - who understandably blame him for the quality of the food they're served and devastate his garden with missiles flung from the roof - Blain later becomes their hero. Along the way we learn of Blain's years in the Merchant Navy, where he perfected the art of manipulating the menu to reflect his own moods - if he was feeling low, for example, he would produce food whose digestive effects would render its eaters equally depressed. We also find out that he has murdered two wives, one mistress and a blackmailer, and buried them in the garden. A meditation on food and digestion, with a large measure of sex and fantasy and a handful of murders thrown in, this is an anarchic, funny, irreverent novel. A wholly original concoction from a talented young French writer - an unusual view of a very British event. A French 'Shallow Grave'.