Cinnamon and Gunpowder: A Novel

"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.

Story is fun, worth the read. The binding I chose came used from a library so I had to do a lot of doctoring to get it ready for my home library. Do yourself a favor and get a new copy, then enjoy!

Hannah Mabbot and her gang of cut-throat pirates burst in on Lord Ramsey's soiree, kill him, and kidnap his cook, Owen Wedgwood, who is required to make Captain Mabbot some tasty dish once a week or sleep with the fishes.Meanwhile, Laroche is busy chasing Mabbot, who is busy chasing the Brass Fox, who is busy being a very naughty boy. Things get messy, some people lose their feet, and others lose their lives; and drugs are bad, m'kay?Brown is a decent enough writer, and I had initially thought that in the spirit of the story (Englishman kidnapped by English pirate trying to throw a spanner into the English opium trade), he might avoid Americanisms, which would be wholly inappropriate. Unfortunately, he doesn't, and things get worse near the end of the book where the mawkish neologism "repurpose" pops up several times in grating succession.In addition to the inappropriate diction, the tone of the book is often 21st-century American. Wedgwood typically addresses Mabbot by her first name, and she (cringe) calls him Wedge. Seriously? Wedge? It's like Mrs Bennett referring to Mr Bennett as "Ben" or (worse) "Benny".There also seems to be an eye on Hollywood. Although a lot of the book would make for a slow, dull film, there's enough action to cobble together a swashbuckling yarn. Near the end of the book, for example, Mabbot declares her affections for her chef (who has shown no signs of being some stud with a six pack) only for a cannonball to interrupt their moment. Hollywood or what?The final part of the book, where the crew of the Flying Rose is captured by Laroche, had me rolling my eyes because in the space of about five minutes or so, the pirates have freed themselves and taken control of the Frenchman's vessel. It's glib and the sort of thing which happens in the final ten minutes of the episode when it seems that the heroes can't possibly get out of the situation in one piece, but the story requires them to escape.I assume that Cinnamon and Gunpowder is really a satire on corporate America (and the war on drugs?), but Brown decided not to set it in the Old West with evil railway barons and hard-working dirt farmers, etc.It is in no way a badly written book (even if the final part feels like it needed a bit more work), but the tone will probably grate on English readers, the pace, at times, will tire some, and everyone is likely to be shaking their heads at the frequent and obvious nods to Hollywood.

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.

A fun summertime read

just perfect!

I have ordered this e-book upon recommendation on facebook by Dana Stabenow - one of my favorite writers. I was in the wrong presumtion that this would be something like Johannes Mario Simmel's *Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein" - which is was absolutely not. This is not the kind of books I usually read and at first I just did not delete it because I was too lazy to look for another book to read. When reading on however this book got to me, and how! I was really sad when it was finished and I have to leave the charakters I got fond of behind. I so much felt part of the book by then. The author writes in an entertaining style and his charakters are believable and sometimes humorfull. The hole story develops well and even if you see the romantic part coming alive rather soon, there is still suspense until the very end. I would recommend this book for easy reading and a fun experience (I however would not want to re-create the dishes described ). I sure will check the other books by this author.

Also eigentlich lese ich keine Piraten- oder Seefahrerromane, weil ich dem Genre nicht so viel abgewinnen kann. Der Klappentext von "Cinnamon and Gunpowder" hat mich allerdings trotzdem zum Kauf angeregt, und das Buch hat mir sehr gut gefallen.Inhalt:Piraten überfallen einen Adeligen während eines Festbanketts und töten ihn; die Kapitänin, Mad Hannah Mabbot, entscheidet, dass das Bankett ihr gut genug gefällt, um kurzerhand den Koch zu kidnappen und auf dem Schiff festzuhalten. Owen Wedgewood muss von nun an jede Woche ein fürstliches Mahl für die Piratenbraut auftischen, und das mit den eher spärlichen Zutaten, die es auf dem Schiff so gibt. Natürlich versucht er, vom Schiff zu fliehen, während Mabbot wie verrückt dem legendären "Brass Fox" hinterherjagt. Nach und nach erkennt Wedgewood, dass hinter Mabbots Motiven vielleicht doch mehr steckt als Gier, und dass sein ehemaliger Herr ziemlich viel Dreck am Stecken hatte.Das Buch ist im Tagebuch-Stil aus der Sicht des Kochs geschrieben; die Figuren, auch Nebencharaktere, wirken alle sehr lebendig und individuell. Es hat mir sehr gut gefallen, langsam die charakterlichen Veränderungen des Kochs in seinen Einträgen mitzuverfolgen, die ihm selbst teilweise erst später bewusst wurden. Die Schilderungen des Essens sind fantastisch, auch die kreativen Ideen, mit denen Wedgewood seinen Pflichten nachkommt. Das nimmt natürlich einen nicht unbeträchtlichen Teil des Buches ein, aber nie so viel, dass die Essensbeschreibungen dröge und langweilig wurden. Die Beziehung zwischen Mabbot und Wedgewood ist schön geschildert, nimmt aber neben dem Hauptplot nur eine untergeordnete Rolle ein, und natürlich gibt es, wie es sich für einen Seefahrerroman gehört, auch eine ganze Menge Action und ein paar Seeschlachten. Die Jagd nach dem Brass Fox, die ein wichtiger Bestandteil des Plots wird, hat auch sehr gut dazugepasst. Das Ende hat mir persönlich nicht so gut gefallen, aber das ist wohl Geschmacksache und da möchte ich jetzt auch nicht vorweggreifen.

Cinnamon and Gunpowder is more than just a pirate/foodie fantasy, it is a treat of a style of launguage so imaginative that at times it takes you out of the story to wonder at its cleverness. But if it is distracting it is in the best way possible. Like a high seas homage to the 1001 Arabian Nights, our hero must create fantastical meals out of ship scraps to keep from losing his head at the hands of his seemingly mad captor. Fortunately, Author Eli Brown knows his way around a galley and then some. The book may lose a little of its steam near the end when the mystery of motivations has fully gone out but one flat course in a feast like this does nothing to lessen its charm.