Sustenance

by Elizabeth Wassell

Who is Lily Murphy? She has platinum-blonde hair but dark eyes; she was born in New York to the daughter of a ballet dancer, but educated in England, and now she is a restaurant critic in Dublin. In Sustenance, we journey into Lily's world of sumptuous meals, but also into her troubled past, where the dinner table was heavy with menace. And we meet Nicholas Savage, the brilliant chef with whom she falls in love, but who, like Lily, harbours a dark secret.

293 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Sean Okeeffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth Wassell's fifth novel, Sustenance, is an opulent tale of food and love. Who is Lily Murphy? She has platinum-blonde hair but dark eyes; she was born in New York to the daughter of a ballet dancer, but educated in England, and now she is a restaurant critic in Dublin. In Sustenance, we journey into Lily's world of sumptuous meals, but also into her troubled past, where the dinner table was heavy with menace. 

We also meet Nicholas Savage, the brilliant chef with whom she falls in love, but who, like Lily, harbours a dark secret. In scenes from Dublin to Belfast, Paris to Nice, and London to New York, Lily's world of restaurants, and her milieu of eccentric friends, lovers and the occasional enemy, is vividly portrayed. This mouth-watering novel – full of passion, pathos and startling descriptions of food – explores the mysterious realms of the heart and mind.

[Tiffany · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF not even 25% in cause what even is this story? 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Kristin Gleeson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lily is a food critic who recently moved to Dublin to review restaurants for a London magazine. Her love of food stems from the sense of order fine dining creates for her after the chaos of her childhood and the secrets that surrounded it. She meets Nicholas, a talented chef who has his own secrets that originate in his childhood in Northern Ireland.

Elizabeth Wassell has published several books before this and is well established so I was a little disappointed to see that though the writing was beautiful at times and evoked all the senses the plotting, especially towards the end was clumsy. Each secret that was unveiled was virtually announced in such a contrived manner that all tension evaporated. The so called secrets were so badly unnconnected to the narrative or so unsurprising that they caused no reaction in this reader and left me wondering if there was something I had missed.

[Mickey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is only getting 2 stars becasue the food descriptions inthe book were marvelous. I wanted to eat every meal described. The story? Was long, drawn out, and boring.

[Seth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Complete
rubbish. Boring, pretentious, predictable.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good food and a sweet love story. A good short read.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easily digestible, I enjoyed both the style of the writing and the style of the characters. The ending was superb. left me wanting for more. I think the title of book says it all. Well compiled and well done.