Description

A rapturous novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world

‘A startling prose hymn to food and sex, love and violence’ GUARDIAN
‘Unique, ambitious, haunting’ GABRIELLE ZEVIN
‘Truly exceptional’ ROXANE GAY
‘Superb’ DOUGLAS STUART

A smog has spread, food is disappearing, and a chef escapes her career in London to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony: an experiment in a new way of living and eating. There, her mysterious employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste and touch. Before long, she is pushed to discover the real nature of the project: a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the place.

Land of Milk and Honey is a striking novel about food, sex and the intricacies of desire.

‘It’s hard not be mesmerised by prose that is as rich and as startling as the food her protagonist prepares’ OBSERVER
‘An astounding book’ CALEB AZUMAH NELSON
‘The most sensual novel about food I have ever read’ EMMA DONOGHUE

Publisher Review

Truly superb — Douglas Stuart A brilliant, near-future fairytale, LAND OF MILK AND HONEY is the most sensuous novel about food I’ve ever read — Emma Donoghue It’s a captivating story that is alien without being too far-fetched. Zhang’s writing is laden with metaphors – particularly around food and sex – and while this could risk being overwritten, it fits the story perfectly. It’s a genius balance of page-turning storytelling and lyrical prose * Independent * Sensual . . . This is a rich novel of ideas, insisting on moral complexity in the end times. It’s also a startling prose hymn to food and sex, love and violence, power and resistance * Guardian * Zhang constructs an unsettling, vertiginous world. Her ornate style reflects the opulence her characters guard so closely, her command of sensory language is impressive, and it’s hard not be mesmerised by prose that is as rich and as startling as the food her protagonist prepares * Observer *