My Fine Fellow
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A 2023 Sydney Taylor Honor Book! * A Bustle Best YA Books Out in 2022 title!
Culinary delights abound, romance lingers in the air, and plans go terribly, wonderfully astray in this gender-bent take on My Fair Lady from Jennieke Cohen, author of Dangerous Alliance—perfect for fans of Bridgerton or A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue.
It’s 1830s England, and Culinarians—doyens who consult with society’s elite to create gorgeous food and confections—are the crème de la crème of high society.
Helena Higgins, top of her class at the Royal Academy, has a sharp demeanor and an even sharper palate—and knows stardom awaits her if she can produce greatness in her final year.
Penelope Pickering is going to prove the value of non-European cuisine to all of England. Her contemporaries may scorn her Filipina heritage and her dishes, but with her flawless social graces and culinary talents, Penelope is set to prove them wrong.
Elijah Little has nothing to his name but a truly excellent instinct for flavors. London merchants won’t allow a Jewish boy to own a shop, so he hawks his pasties for a shilling a piece to passersby—but he knows with training he can break into the highest echelon of society.
When Penelope and Helena meet Elijah, a golden opportunity arises: to pull off a project never seen before, and turn Elijah from a street vendor to a gentleman chef.
But Elijah’s transformation will have a greater impact on this trio than they originally realize—and mayhem, unseemly faux pas, and a little romance will all be a part of the delicious recipe.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Filled with delectable dishes and an inclusive cast, Cohen's (Dangerous Alliance) gender-bent My Fair Lady retelling centers a cooking competition in 1830s London. At London's Royal Academy of Culinaria Artisticus—which trains cooks and food consultants to society's elite—aspiring Culinarian Lady Helena Higgins is at the top of her class. Though her "sharp tongue offended nearly everyone she met," she's determined to prove, in a world in which Princess Charlotte has succeeded George IV as England's monarch, that she is not only the finest Culinarian in Britain, but that women can sustain themselves professionally and that people from any background can "be improved by the right teachings." As final-year students, presumed-white Helena and her best friend Penelope Pickering, whose mother is Filipina and father is white and English, must each present a project that showcases their abilities; the most outstanding will become highly sought-after Culinarians. While Penelope seeks to emphasize international cuisine's flavors, Helena, after meeting gifted Elijah Little, a white Jewish street vendor whose family fled Bavaria to escape anti-Semitism, determines to transform Elijah into an amateur gentleman chef. Weaving the original source material with relevant social commentary, Cohen creates memorable characters struggling to find their place in a prejudicial world, while alternating viewpoints add depth to the backdrop of this historical culinary treat. Ages 13–up.