Delicious Foods

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Darlene, once an exemplary wife and a loving mother, finds herself devastated by the unforeseen death of her husband. Unable to cope with her grief, she turns to drugs.

Unbeknownst to her eleven-year-old son Eddie, Darlene has been lured away to a remote farm with false promises of a good job by a shady company named Delicious Foods, where she is held captive while she works the land to pay off alleged debts.

Through Darlene's haunted struggle to reunite with Eddie, through the efforts of both to triumph over those who would enslave them, and through the irreverent and mischievous voice of the drug that narrates Darlene's travails, Hannaham's daring prose infuses this harrowing experience with compassion and humour. Along the way we experience a tale at once contemporary and historical that wrestles with timeless questions of love and freedom, forgiveness and redemption, tenacity and the will to survive.

Reviews

"A Southern farm provides the backdrop for a modern-day slavery tale in this textured, inventive and provocatively funny novel... A poised and nervy study of race in a unique voice." -Kirkus (starred review)

"Delicious Foods is virtuosity on a hire wire--a wild, romping, brilliant plot, capped off with bodacious characters and breathtaking prose. A completely unforgettable, original, and singular novel by a brave, exciting new writer." - Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow


"Bury me with this book, so I will remember how wonderful living was--the food, the words, the stories, the places, the feeling of freedom. Delicious Foods is a magnificent novel, full of beauty a great writer can make of even the most terrifying parts of life." - Rebecca Lee, author of Bobcat


"Disturbing and addictive... This dark story is horrific, engrossing, deeply moving, and surprisingly funny at times... The subject matter in this tale of survival is uncomfortable and unfortunately all-too believable, but Hannaham's inventive storytelling and care for his characters fill this bleak world with much needed hope and love. Delicious Foods is hard to swallow at times, but also hard to put down."--Winnipeg Free Press

Author Bio

James Hannaham is the author of the novel God Says No, which was honored by the American Library Association. He holds an MFA from the Michener Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and lives in Brooklyn, where he teaches creative writing at the Pratt Institute.