Pâtca is on the run in Doina Ruști’s The Book of Perilous Dishes (carefully translated by James Christian Brown). She flees from her small village when her grandmother is accused of witchcraft. Unlike so many others accused like this, Pâtca and her family really are witches. Sadly, their knowledge is no match for a pissed-off mob and Pâtca must seek refuge in Bucharest, only to learn that this is just the first in a series of unfortunate events.
The plan was for Pâtca to live with her uncle, a talented and influential magician. As soon as she arrives at her uncle’s house, Pâtca discovers that the poor man and his servants have been murdered. It turns out that turn-of-the-nineteenth-century Bucharest is absolute bedlam. Not only has Pâtca’s uncle been killed but Pâtca is almost sold into slavery by a group of corrupt Turkish gendarms. This book skirts the boundaries of the picaresque. The only thing keeping The Book of Perilous Dishes from slipping completely into that kind of malarky is Pâtca’s agency. Although she needs to be rescued more than once, Pâtca’s little hexes help her in her quest to right the wrongs done to her family. That said, so much happens to Pâtca that it’s hard to keep the plot and mishaps straight sometimes.
There’s no way I can summarize the plot of this book. Not only is there her uncle’s murder to solve, Pâtca also has to figure out how to retrieve her uncle’s book of magical recipes. A rogue cook has the book and is cooking his way through it, wreaking havoc in the Ottoman-appointed prince’s court with dishes that inflame emotions like paranoia and generosity or cause fatal bouts of laughter. Pâtca also has to do polite battle with churchmen who want to snaffle her inheritance away, locate a mysterious house on a street that may not exist, and help her patroness in her mission to become the new governor of Romania.
I appreciated the sense of place and time Ruști created. There are occasional untranslated words in Turkish and Romanian (I know what an anteri is now) that add texture to my overall impression of a city of near-anarchy and corruption and exotic flavors and magic and infatuation. There is so much going on in Bucharest and this corner of the Ottoman Empire that it was a little startling to hear a French diplomat refer to Napolean’s dreams of conquering Europe. Readers looking for unusual historical fiction may like this one.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.