In the Kitchen: A NovelMonica Ali, nominated for the Man Booker Prize, theLos Angeles TimesBook Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award, has written a follow-up toBrick Lanethat will further establish her as one of England's most compelling and original voices.Gabriel L ightfoot is an enterprising man from a northern E ngland mill town, making good in London. As executive chef at the once-splendid Imperial H otel, he is trying to run a tight kitchen. But his integrity, to say nothing of his sanity, is under constant challenge from the competing demands of an exuberant multinational staff, a gimlet-eyed hotel management, and business partners with whom he is secretly planning a move to a restaurant of his own. D espite the pressures, all his hard work looks set to pay off.Until 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.Elsewhere, Gabriel faces other complications. His father is dying of cancer, his girlfriend wants more from their relationship, and the restaurant manager appears to be running an illegal business under Gabe's nose.Enter L ena, an eerily attractive young woman with mysterious ties to the dead man. U nder 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.Readers and reviewers have been stunned by the breadth of humanity in Monica Ali's fiction. S he is compared to D ickens and called one of three British novelists who are "the voice of a generation" byTimemagazine.In the Kitchenis utterly contemporary yet has all the drama and heartbreak of a great nineteenth-century novel. Ali is sheer pleasure to read, a truly magnificent writer. |
Contents
Section 1 | 1 |
Section 2 | 21 |
Section 3 | 36 |
Section 4 | 64 |
Section 5 | 77 |
Section 6 | 87 |
Section 7 | 105 |
Section 8 | 121 |
Section 16 | 264 |
Section 17 | 276 |
Section 18 | 288 |
Section 19 | 300 |
Section 20 | 312 |
Section 21 | 324 |
Section 22 | 339 |
Section 23 | 358 |
Section 9 | 135 |
Section 10 | 151 |
Section 11 | 159 |
Section 12 | 183 |
Section 13 | 204 |
Section 14 | 225 |
Section 15 | 241 |
Section 24 | 373 |
Section 25 | 386 |
Section 26 | 397 |
Section 27 | 423 |
| 437 | |
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Common terms and phrases
began Benny better Charlie Chef close coming course didn’t don’t door Ernie everything eyes face Fairweather feel feet felt find fingers first floor Gabe Gabriel getting girl give Gleeson gone hair hand happened he’d head hear It’s Ivan Jenny keep kind kitchen knew laughed leave Lena light live looked Maddox manager mean mind mouth moved Nana never night Nikolai okay once Oona opened picked pulled remember Rolly round seemed shoulder side smiled someone sorry speak standing started stood stop story Suleiman talk tell that’s there’s thing thought told took tried trying turned Victor waiting walked wall watched What’s window Yuri