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‘Very funny, very stylish and very moving’ ADAM THIRLWELL

‘An irresistible novel – I loved it’ CLAIRE POWELL

‘Deliciously unsettling and thoroughly enjoyable’ AYSEGUEL SAVAS

An evening of perfect preparation. A night of uninvited chaos.

For the hostess, food has always been about growing up. From the pancakes your grandmother made you, dolloped with jam, to the salty glug of your first oyster. Now, poised at the brink of midlife, the hostess prepares for a dinner party in her new apartment. With a hunger for the finer things in life, she folds linen napkins into neat triangles, arranges wildflowers for the table and puts on a jazz playlist the projects effortless cool.

But her composure begins to falter when her guests arrive drunk and late, downing bottles of her perfectly cooled wine and trailing water over the floor. Here comes the chain-smoking professor who never says the right thing, the husband glued to his smartphone, the wife who makes a secret pass at your boyfriend.

As small talk and social preening give way to sexual tension and lost inhibitions, the hostess struggles to maintain control over an evening far beyond her wildest imaginings.

Publisher Review

‘An entertaining, finely observed chamber play and a great culinary reading pleasure’ – Nora von Westphalen

‘Astutely analyses social interaction and presents it in a humorous and ironic way’ – Laura Sodano

‘Anyone who can pull off such a chilli-hot social farce not only has dramatic skills, a feel for psychology and interpersonal staging practices, but also deserves the title of being considered the German-speaking Yasmina Reza’ – Bjorn Hayer

‘With her well-seasoned, original menu Teresa Praauer proves herself to be an amusingly sophisticated hostess and stimulating companion at this literary dinner’ – Irene Prugger

‘Praauer has succeeded in creating a highly subtle, apt study of the milieu, an elegantly composed text spiced with clever irony’ – Christian Schacherreiter