Manette

by Richard Mabb

This is an epic story about two men in love. And food. Set in China in 1924, Hong Kong in 1945, London in 1947, France in 1948 and Rome in the early 1950s Food, love and Victorian poetry. And indissoluble friendships. About seeing life as a newsreel and dissecting it in a doctoral thesis. A multi-sensory experience that includes eating leftover rice with warm milk and sugar for breakfast, the music of Ray Ventura, Italian Nuovo Realismo cinema, Baroque gardens, an evening at a gay pub in London's Soho, facing up to AIDS, Cucina Povera in Rome, the songs of Noel Coward, one hour in the Antico Caffè Greco, two hours in a prisoner of-war camp in Hong Kong, a scene from Virgil's Aeneid, and the poetry of Catullus. Who can be both male and female, a steadfast coward, a knight with no quest, a doubting evangelist, a cook who doesn't want to eat and a poet who doesn't write a line?
Meet Manette not for answers but for what it means to be all these things and alive.

380 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2022

Reviews

[Stuart Wakefield · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel that embarks on a deeply intricate exploration of identity and the bonds of human connection.

Mabb’s eloquent prose and understanding of the human psyche delivers a book that’s both captivating and thought-provoking, seamlessly weaving together the past and present, delving into the complexities of its characters' lives. His narrative style is rich and evocative, and his use of language is both precise and poetic, crafting scenes that linger in the mind.

The result is a rich exploration of human experience, a narrative that is as diverse and complex as life itself.