Blog Tour: ‘The Language of Food’ by Annabel Abbs

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Language of Food’ by Annabel Abbs, a fabulous historical novel out on 3rd February, 2022.

Thanks to Random Things Tours and Simon and Schuster for my place on the tour and my copy of the book for review. As always, opinions are entirely my own.

From the Publisher

Eliza Acton is a poet who’s never boiled an egg.

But she’s about to break the mould of traditional cookbooks.

And change the course of cookery writing forever.

England 1835. Eliza Acton is a poet who dreams of seeing her words in print. But when she takes a new manuscript to a publisher, she’s told that ‘poetry is not the business of a lady.’ Instead, she’s asked to write a cookery book.

Eliza is horrified but her financial situation leaves her no choice. Although she’s never cooked before, she is determined to learn and to discover, if she can, the poetry in recipe writing. To assist her, she hires seventeen-year-old Ann Kirby, the daughter of local paupers. Over the next ten years, Eliza and Ann
change the course of cookery writing forever.

Told in alternate voices by the award-winning author of ‘The Joyce Girl’, ‘The Language of Food’ is the most thought-provoking and compelling historical novel you’ll read this year. Abbs explores the enduring struggle for female freedom, the complexities of friendship, the creativity and quiet joy of cooking and the poetry of food, while bringing Eliza Acton out of the archives and back into the public eye.

“A portrait of Victorian domestic life that is both encompassing and finely detailed… Recipe-loving readers will appreciate the detailed descriptions of Victorian dishes like apple Hedgehog and Buttered Celery on Toast; fans of women’s history will find plenty to admire in the way Ann and Eliza inspire one another to be true to themselves in a culture that has little use for intelligent single women”

Historical Novel Society

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My Review

Everyone has heard of Mrs Beeton, right? For those of us of a particular age, there might even have been a copy of ‘Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management’ lying around at home or at the home of parents, grandparents, whoever… That huge Victorian tome, updated and reprinted regularly, was a Bible to all housekeepers of a certain vintage…and yet the women at the centre of ‘The Language of Food’ – Eliza Acton – inspired Mrs Beeton and yet is herself mostly unknown.

With its Victorian setting and story about a woman who has been forgotten by history, this book could have been written for me!

At the novel’s heart is an unlikely friendship between Eliza Acton and the seventeen year-old maid, Ann Kirby, who she hires to help her write the cookbook demanded by her publisher. Eliza is a poet living in genteel poverty who is determined to bring poetry to recipe books which – to this point – have been pretty dry and basic. Ann is a poor maid with a family who need supporting – and she brings the culinary skills to the partnership that Eliza lacks. Between the two, they create something which kickstarts the cookbook genre in a format we would recognise today (and which Mrs Beeton heavily relied upon for her own writing).

The majority of the book is set in the very early days of Queen Victoria’s reign and is told (in alternate chapters) by Eliza and Ann. Both voices are compelling and the reader is soon caught up in the problems that they are facing – Eliza wants to write while her overbearing mother tries to marry her off to secure some wealth for the family while Ann is seeking to escape from the extreme poverty of her background while also helping her family. Ann’s story is particularly heartbreaking, especially when the reader can start to piece together her tragedy in a way that her naivety doesn’t allow her to realise.

Although the focus is the two women, there is so much more to enjoy in this book. In particular, the weird and wonderful Victorian recipes are pretty fascinating. For me, a fussy eater at the best of times, the prospect of Seasoned Gruel, Buttered Celery on Toast or Smoked Haunch of Badger was intriguing! Each chapter has a different dish as its title – often what Eliza and Ann are cooking, discussing or writing about. I loved the fact that Abbs describes the original recipes and cooking techniques which adds to the authenticity of the setting – I’m not a foodie at all, but this was interesting reading.

Another lovely touch was the use of real people and places – as part of Eliza’s richly-imagined world, we meet interesting historical figures such as Lady Judith Montefiore and Alexis Soyer. While not household names now, for a Victorian geek like me they were great additions that added to the vibrancy of Eliza’s setting and furthered my picture of early-Victorian life. There was a lot here that had me frantically Googling to split the fact from the fiction – the mark of a great historical novel in my book!

Abbs’ writing is beautiful and nuanced – this is the story of a frustrated poet who explores the possibilities of language as much as cookery and it is a pleasure to read.

Overall, I would say this is a joy for fans of historical fiction – especially those who like light shed on forgotten people and stories. This is a book that needs savouring as there is so much to take in, from the glorious descriptions of food to the beauty of the growing relationship between the two women. It isn’t fast paced, but it is thoroughly engaging and delightfully written.

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About the Author

Annabel Abbs is the rising star of biographical historical novels. She grew up in Bristol, Sussex and Wales before studying English Literature at the University of East Anglia. Her debut novel ‘The Joyce Girl’ won the Impress Prize and was a Guardian Reader’s Pick and her second novel ‘Frieda: The Original Lady Chatterley’ was a Times 2018 Book of the Year. She regularly appears on national and regional media, with recent appearances on Radio 4 Woman’s Hour and Sky News, and is popular on the literary festival circuit. She was longlisted for the Bath Novel Award, the Caledonia Novel Award and the Waverton GoodRead Award. Annabel lives in London with her husband and four children.

When I inherited a collection of antiquarian cookery books I suspected a story might be lurking in one of them. Researching and writing the story of Britain’s first domestic goddess has been a wonderful culinary adventure.

Annabel Abbs