Camilles Bread

This is far from Lohrey's most flamboyant book, and the deepest satisfaction comes from reading it slowly, savouring the characters. The novel concerns three individuals: mother, daughter and the mother's (tentative) boyfriend and their uncertain entanglements. The adults think they are discovering the world (taking a year off work, preparing to go to a Buddhist temple in Japan) but in fact they have mostly turned inwards, discovering nothing but more of themselves. Camille, a fussy, allergy-ridden child, keeps her mother constantly, annoyingly distracted from any and all trains of thought, and yet grounded in a helplessly physical reality. A more positive form of this link between love and physicality is the cooking that both adults learn and demonstrate, though their purposes vary and Camille is vastly unimpressed by their attempts to nurture her slight soul in this way. Lohrey's book seems slight, but will stay with the reader, maturing and enriching, for a long, long time.

Food and philosophy inform our understandings of nutrition and well being, yet rarely are these issues touched on in fiction. This superbly written novel, set in Sydney, Australia, is a story about desire, place and how we construct our sense of self. A rattling good read, full of sensuality and delicious meals it is a must read for those interested in what happens when West meets East.