IN THE KITCHEN - Monica Ali

~ Standard Hardcover

Gabriel Lightfoot, executive chef at the once-splendid Imperial Hotel, is trying to run a tight kitchen.  However, 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 . . . 

An utterly contemporary tale with all the drama and heartbreak of a great nineteenth-century novel, In the Kitchen is sheer pleasure, leaving readers and reviewers stunned by the breadth of humanity that exudes from the fiction of a truly magnificent writer.

“All the ingredients for a sizzling tale are present: A sudden death that may or may not be accidental, a middle-age chef on the verge of a breakdown, sexual obsession, an illicit affair, and a nefarious plot involving human smuggling.” -- Boston Globe