FOOD PERSON

An unemployed food writer agrees to ghostwrite a cookbook for an erratic starlet looking to revive her career and reputation.

“Dowdy” Isabella Pasternak is on the bottom rung of the career ladder, writing about things like chickpea trends and cheese options for Comestibles magazine. After unexpectedly stepping in to do an Instagram Live on chocolate soufflés that ends in disaster, she is unceremoniously fired. The same day, after rescuing her best friend, Owen, from a caviar catastrophe at his wealthy father’s birthday party, Isabella is rewarded with an opportunity via Owen’s dad: Ghostwrite a cookbook for one of his clients. Isabella initially balks; cookbooks are sacred to her, and she wants to be more than a mere ghostwriter. But the alternative—help her mother make “her signature Frankensoups” for soup kitchen patrons—is too anguishing. The client in question, Molly Babcock, isn’t about to make things easy. She’s everything Isabella expects from a disgraced actress who’s been in the tabloids more than on set. Molly is self-absorbed, vain, and often drunk—plus apparently uninterested in actually eating any food. But when Molly unexpectedly lets Isabella in on a key part of her past, the women’s professional and personal relationship grows suddenly more complicated, forcing Isabella to confront the kind of career she really wants, and the person she really wants to be. Roberts’ novel is a confection—satisfyingly over-the-top—but with complex notes; he has a true knack for understanding the ways that food rules every aspect of our lives, from the gourmet’s obsession to the shame and guilt surrounding indulgence. But even readers who don’t know a branzino from bearnaise will find plenty to enjoy here, from the colorful secondary characters to the zippy plot.

A debut novel that dishes up one of the most delectable ingredients of all: fun.