{"product_id":"in-the-kitchen-9781416571698","title":"In the Kitchen","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis \"mesmerizing\" (\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e) novel from Booker Prize-shortlisted author Monica Ali brings us into the vivid world of a London restaurant.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGabriel Lightfoot, an enterprising man from a northern English mill town, is making good in London. As executive chef at the once-splendid Imperial Hotel, he aims to run a tight kitchen. Though he's under constant challenge from the competing demands of an exuberantly multinational staff, a gimlet-eyed hotel management, and business partners with whom he is secretly planning a move to a restaurant of his own, all Gabe's hard work looks set to pay off. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Until, that is, a worker is found dead in the kitchen's basement. It is a small death, a lonely death--but it is enough to disturb the tenuous balance of Gabe's life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Enter Lena, an eerily attractive young woman with mysterious ties to the dead man. Under her spell, Gabe makes a decision, the consequences of which strip him naked and change the course of the life he knows--and the future he thought he wanted. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e With prose that \"crackles with verve and vivacity\" (\u003ci\u003eMilwaukee Journal Sentinel\u003c\/i\u003e) and \"a truly Dickensian cast of characters\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Buffalo News\u003c\/i\u003e), Ali's \"portrait of a middle-aged Holden Caulfield wandering the streets\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Plain Dealer\u003c\/i\u003e) is a sheer pleasure to read.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMonica Ali was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and grew up in England. She was named one of the 20 best young British novelists under 40 by \u003ci\u003eGranta\u003c\/i\u003e. She is the author of four previous novels, including \u003ci\u003eUntold Story \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eBrick Lane\u003c\/i\u003e, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Guardian Book Prize, nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was named a winner of the 2003 Discover Award for Fiction and a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eEditors' Choice Book that same year. She lives in London with her husband and two children.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50415107866898,"sku":"9781416571698","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f85b333c-f57d-4928-87e5-64be339a87ca.jpg?v=1729394196","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/in-the-kitchen-9781416571698","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}