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The Last Chinese Chef
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The Last Chinese Chef Hardback - 2007

by Nicole Mones

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Summary

This alluring novel of friendship, love, and cuisine brings the best-selling author of Lost in Translation and A Cup of Light to one of the great Chinese subjects: food. As in her previous novels, Mones’s captivating story also brings into focus a changing China -- this time the hidden world of high culinary culture.

When Maggie McElroy, a widowed American food writer, learns of a Chinese paternity claim against her late husband’s estate, she has to go immediately to Beijing. She asks her magazine for time off, but her editor counters with an assignment: to profile the rising culinary star Sam Liang.

In China Maggie unties the knots of her husband’s past, finding out more than she expected about him and about herself. With Sam as her guide, she is also drawn deep into a world of food rooted in centuries of history and philosophy. To her surprise she begins to be transformed by the cuisine, by Sam’s family -- a querulous but loving pack of cooks and diners -- and most of all by Sam himself. The Last Chinese Chef is the exhilarating story of a woman regaining her soul in the most unexpected of places.

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From the publisher

This alluring novel of friendship, love, and cuisine brings the best-selling author of Lost in Translation and A Cup of Light to one of the great Chinese subjects: food. As in her previous novels, Mones's captivating story also brings into focus a changing China -- this time the hidden world of high culinary culture.
When Maggie McElroy, a widowed American food writer, learns of a Chinese paternity claim against her late husband's estate, she has to go immediately to Beijing. She asks her magazine for time off, but her editor counters with an assignment: to profile the rising culinary star Sam Liang.
In China Maggie unties the knots of her husband's past, finding out more than she expected about him and about herself. With Sam as her guide, she is also drawn deep into a world of food rooted in centuries of history and philosophy. To her surprise she begins to be transformed by the cuisine, by Sam's family -- a querulous but loving pack of cooks and diners -- and most of all by Sam himself. The Last Chinese Chef is the exhilarating story of a woman regaining her soul in the most unexpected of places.

Details

  • Title The Last Chinese Chef
  • Author Nicole Mones
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition 1st/2nd
  • Pages 278
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  • Publication date 2007
  • ISBN 9780618619665 / 0618619666
  • Weight 0.87 lbs (0.39 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.4 x 6.84 x 0.94 in (21.34 x 17.37 x 2.39 cm)
  • Category Fiction - General
  • Library of Congress subjects Love stories, Cookery
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2006030469
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Finalist for the Kiriyama Prize for Fiction World Gourmand Award Winner

"Stunning... will really make your mouth water."
-Entertainment Weekly

 "Entertaining and learned… the perfect leisure read…effortless… profound… delicious."
-Wall Street Journal

 "The most thorough explanation of Chinese food I’ve ever read in the English language."
-Ruth Reichl, NPR

 "A dazzling journey… a feast… a page turner both exciting and wise."
-David Henry Hwang

"Food and travel writing at its best… engaging, inventive, and incredibly informative."
-Booksense

 "It doesn’t seem quite fair for an author to be as skilled…as Nicole Mones. Entrances."
-Seattle Times

 "Will transport you… you won’t want to put the book down…"
-NW Asian Weekly

 "A masterpiece for Chinese food."
-Edouard Cointreau, judges’ panel, World Gourmand Award

"Subtle…meticulously researched… will entice. Avoid reading while hungry."
-Kirkus Reviews

 "Sumptuous... tantalizing. Early in her visit, Maggie scoffs at the idea that food can heal the human heart. Mones smartly proves her wrong."
-Publisher’s Weekly

 "Crackling with energy and ambition.. will delight… erudite details and butter-smooth prose."
-Diana Abu-Jaber

"Maybe you never considered the imperial heights of Chinese cuisine. Nicole Mones can change that with the flip of a page."
-Charlotte Observer

 "Outstanding and beautifully written."
-Willamette Week

 Erudite and entertaining…mouthwatering details on one of the world’s greatest cuisines."
-Northwest Asian Times

 "Captivating…evocative… admirably adept…invaluably quirky knowledge about Chinese culture and food. "
-New York Times Book Review

"Delicious… deftly portrays complexity and passion of a cross-cultural love affair… and the rarefied and competitive world of Chinese haute cuisine, a subtle complex art that reached its apogee in the court of the Emperor and was nearly obliterated in Mao’s Cultural Revolution."
Judges’ Citation, Kiriyama Prize

"Delicious…reveals the sophistication of an ancient culture but also its corruption, cronyism, and poverty. "
-Waterstone Review
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The Last Chinese Chef
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The Last Chinese Chef

by Mones, Nicole

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Very Good. With dust jacket. It's a well-cared-for item that has seen limited use. The item may show minor signs of wear. All the text is legible, with all pages included. It may have slight markings and/or highlighting.
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The Last Chinese Chef

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The Last Chinese Chef

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2007. Hardcover. Very Good. Disclaimer:A copy that has been read, but remains in excellent condition. Pages are intact and are not marred by notes or highlighting, but may contain a neat previous owner name. The spine remains undamaged. An ex-library book and may have standard library stamps and/or stickers. At ThriftBooks, our motto is: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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The Last Chinese Chef
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The Last Chinese Chef

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The Last Chinese Chef

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007-01-01. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 6x1x8. Signed by Author. Inscribed by the author on the title page. First printing with full number line. Minor shelf wear to binding. Light wear & soiling on edges of text block. Text is unmarked. The dust jacket shows some light handling, in a mylar cover.
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The Last Chinese Chef

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First edition, first printing. This book shows very little wear. There is a small stain on the lateral page edges and nothing else I can find. The pages are clean, tight and unmarked, and the dust jacket appears to be unblemished.
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The Last Chinese Chef

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THE LAST CHINESE CHEF.

THE LAST CHINESE CHEF.

by Mones, Nicole.

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New York & Boston:: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.. Hardcover first edition -. Near fine in near fine dust jacket.. First edition The author's third novel, a story of friendship, love and the hidden world of high culinary culture in a changing China. 278 pp.
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