Cinnamon and Gunpowder: A Novel Paperback – June 3, 2014

"Dear Mr. Wedgwood,Welcome to the Flying Rose. I hope you have settled to sea comfortably. Your lot may improve in direct proportion to your willingness. I do look forward to more of your fare. Let me lay out my proposal: You will, of a Sunday, cook for me, and me alone, the finest supper. You will neither repeat a dish nor serve foods that are in the slightest degree mundane. In return I will continue to keep you alive and well, and we may discuss an improvement of your quarters after a time. Should you balk in any fashion you will find yourself swimming home, whole or in pieces, depending upon the severity of my disappointment.How does this strike you?In anticipation,Capt. Hannah Mabbot"Owen Wedgwood is a fantastic chef who had the misfortune of working for the Lord of a large shipping company. See, this book takes place shortly after England outlawed slavery (which is well before America did...), but Wedgwood's boss makes a huge fortune on opium and slaves.Enter Captain Hannah Mabbot, who hates slavery and the destruction caused by the opium trade so much that she breaks in while Wedgwood is serving dinner and kills the head of the Pendleton Tracing Company, Lord Ramsey. Then, after sampling the entree, she decides to kidnap Wedgwood.Now, Wedgwood is no wimp. I mean. Not unless you judge him by a pirate's standards, rather than judging him as a gourmet chef raised by Jesuit monks."I have been known to pay too much for beef at the Smithfield market for fear of harsh words"...So okay he's kinda wimpy. But the pirates bring out his bravery, first in making him desperate to try anything to escape, and later he finds his own courage--and it turns out he's still a pacifist.There's so much passion for food in this book! I get so annoyed with books where the characters either ignore their food entirely, or who actually hate eating. (Chick lit, I'm looking at you.) Owen is not just a chef, though. He sees the world through the flavors and combinations and potential in his recipes."Some foods are so comforting, so nourishing of body and soul, that to eat them is to be home again after a long journey. To eat such a meal is to remember that, though the world is full of knives and storms, the body is built for kindness."Mabbot, though she is a champion of the slaves and of those people who suffer due to the opium trade, is not a nice person. She will do whatever it takes to keep her crew together and safe, including torturing and murdering offenders. She's a very fun character, and she's kind of scary. "Theater paint" will never mean the same thing to you again.This book is pure wish fulfillment. It's the best break from reality I've had in years. It's also the most accurate sailing book I've read: there are details about the boats that I've never seen before, that I would never have thought of since I've never been sailing. Although there is a female pirate captain, she talks about how difficult, how improbable, her rise to power was.And although Owen is a good man, he is a man of his times: he's homophobic, he's racist, he's drenched in religion, and he's very stubborn about it even when faced with evidence that he's wrong."...I felt something important slip from me. Once gone, I could not say exactly what it had been, only that I had been holding on to it ever since this horrible story began, as a man fallen from a cliff clings to a stalk of nettle; that bitter weed had kept me alive. Now that I had let go, I was falling and I would not be the same."The characters are vivid and hilarious. Especially the wonderful Mr. Apples. The romance (and there is romance!) is believable and layered and it comes about slowly. It is so rare for me to root for a couple but Eli Brown writes so well.Most powerful for me were the themes of grief, and of redemption through grief. A book that can hit you where you live is a rare thing but this book did it."I've had this pain. To tell you it will go away would be a lie. It will never go away. But, if you live long enough, it will cease to torture and will instead flavor you. As we rely on the bitterness of strong tea to wake us, this too will become something you can use."Guh. Right to my core.Good work, Eli Brown.

We chose this novel for book club and I must confess it is not quite what I thought. I'm glad to have read it and encourage readers to give it a try.

What an adventure this is. Loved it from start to finish. Eli Brown has a unique writing voice and the prose is fun, beautiful and often worth re-reading. It is written in first person and one particular line (out of so many) I enjoyed was this one - "I may not be skilled at eloquent oratory, but for muttering angrily under one's breath, I have never met a more capable man."I'm aware the story sounds a bit preposterous, and I'm still surprised I purchased it but I shouldn't second guess myself. Lesson learned.In 1819, Owen Wedgewood, a talented chef, is kidnapped by a pirate, Captain Mad Hannah Mabbot, after she kills his employer. Her demand of Wedgewood...he is to prepare a sumptuous meal every Sunday for her private enjoyment. If he succeeds in pleasing her, he will live another week. Each Sunday deadline is an ordeal for Wedgewood, as the ship is not well-provisioned and Mabbot and the crew are accustomed to eating porridge at sea, with occasional catches of fish, squid or eels. The planning and discussion of food preparation is quite enjoyable.The novel is written so well, it fascinates at every turn and nautical mile. Wedgewood has some ill-conceived escape attempts, ship battles at sea are realistic and exciting, and the pursuit of the pirate, the Brass Fox lead Mabbot and her crew into dangerous territory. I don't want to spoil the pleasure for any other reader by sharing too much. No one will regret buying and reading. This is pure fun.

For eloquent reviews, please read those written by others here. This cursed book kept me up all night turning digital pages and I am now thoroughly happy and wrecked for Monday's work. Good job.The writing is top-notch. The author takes pains to engage all your senses in this story, and succeeds wildly. Characterizations are great, with each character distinctly drawn and absolutely necessary to the story. Structure, plot and pacing are deft, with the fun, surprising twists and turns one might expect from a world-class roller coaster. You'll sympathize with the crew as the chef describes the dishes he prepares just for the captain; like them, you can only imagine how wonderful that food tastes as it's carried past to be eaten by someone who's not you. I particularly enjoyed the layering of food as metaphor as the chef is slowly transformed throughout the story by his experiences. Last but not least, the lessons on leadership delivered by the pirate captain make this a great read for anyone in a management position. Ok, maybe not the lashings part.If you're looking for a weighty, meaningful book and you've already read "Gravity's Rainbow" and "The Gulag Archipelago", keep looking. Nor is this total fluff. It's a great summer read, good company for a long flight, and an excellent way to make yourself absolutely useless on Monday if you're foolish enough to read it Sunday night. If this were made into a movie, I'd definitely go see it in the theaters. Who doesn't like food, pirates, explosions and romance?