A novel in the form of a cookbook. A cookbook in the form of a novel. A fable in the form of a tasty barbecue. A romance spiced with flair. A delightful confection through and through, cooked with verve. A sensual read, it is also a thoroughly modern affair set in the milieu of low income housing in Paris. We all know the type: the anonymous immigrant who keeps to himself, working in jobs in which he has to keep his head down, taking care of his elderly mother, the loner in essence. So what will it take to draw him out if not home-cooked food? What better means of seduction than food from the motherland? What else could arouse the spirit and trigger memories? And so it goes. This is the story of a young African woman living in Paris, a woman who has forgot her roots, assimilated completely it would seem into Western society, who reconnects with her soul when she decides to court a man by cooking (at first for him and then for herself). The dishes proliferate, each one appropriate for the occasion. A real treat in limpid prose, it makes me want to eat.