A rapturous novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world

'A rich novel of ideas' GUARDIAN
'A tasty treat' iNEWS
'A genius balance of page-turning and lyrical prose' INDEPENDENT
'A sharp, sensual piece of art. When I read I'm always searching for pleasure, for the want, and this book helped me feel something' RAVEN LEILANI
'It's rare to read anything that feels this unique. A richly imagined, ambitious, and haunting novel' GABRIELLE ZEVIN
'Truly exceptional' ROXANE GAY

A smog has spread. Food crops are disappearing. A chef escapes her career in London to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world's troubles. There, her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch and her own body.

In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and seductive violence, the chef's boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.

Sensuous and surprising, joyous and bitingly sharp, told in alluring language, Land of Milk and Honey is a striking novel about food, sex and the intricacies of desire and longing.

"It’s a captivating story that is alien without being too far-fetched. Zhang’s writing is laden with metaphors – particularly around food and sex – and while this could risk being overwritten, it fits the story perfectly. It’s a genius balance of page-turning storytelling and lyrical prose" - Independent

"Sensual . . . This is a rich novel of ideas, insisting on moral complexity in the end times. It’s also a startling prose hymn to food and sex, love and violence, power and resistance" - Guardian

"Zhang constructs an unsettling, vertiginous world. Her ornate style reflects the opulence her characters guard so closely, her command of sensory language is impressive, and it’s hard not be mesmerised by prose that is as rich and as startling as the food her protagonist prepares" - Observer