Books like 'The Cook'
Readers who enjoyed The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary culinary literary-fiction journey coming-of-age
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Retuned: The Price of Time by Tania Joyce
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA vacation. An unforgettable accident. Lives are changed forever.Gemma and Kyle wanted a quick getaway before they recorded their new album.But one fateful mistake changes their lives forever.Heartbreaking decisions must be made.Friendships will be tried and tested...Categorized as:
literary-fiction coming-of-age contemporary fiction romance new-adult friendship female-mc -
Hard Land by Benedict Wells
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsMissouri, 1985: Um vor den Problemen zu Hause zu fliehen, nimmt der fünfzehnjährige Sam einen Ferienjob in einem alten Kino an. Und einen magischen Sommer lang ist alles auf den Kopf gestellt. Er findet Freunde, verliebt sich und entdeckt die Geheimnisse seiner Heimatstadt. Zum ersten Mal ist er kein unscheinbarer Außenseiter mehr. Bis etwas passiert, das ihn zwingt, erwachsen zu werden... -
All My Mothers by Joanna Glen
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the author of the Costa shortlisted debut, The Other Half of Augusta Hope, comes the story of one girl’s journey to find her birth mother, and her realisation that mothers – and family – can be discovered in the most unexpected of places…London, 1980s. Though she has a comfortable, privileged life, Eva Martínez-Green is deeply unhappy...Categorized as:
literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction historical-fiction contemporary audiobook family parenthood -
Dandelion Daughter: A Novel by Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWinner 2022, Prix des Libraires Rights for TV adaptation purchased by Zone 3 A runaway bestseller in Québec, where it has captured the hearts of readers and pushed trans-identity into the mainstream conversation, Dandelion Daughter is an intimate, courageous portrait of what it’s like to grow up having been assigned the wrong sex at birth...Categorized as:
literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction lgbtq trans-mc contemporary female-author book -
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Han cantado bingo by Lana Corujo
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTodo empieza con un algunas noches, en los diez minutos suspendidos antes de que Abuela regrese del bingo, dos hermanas salen a escondidas por la puerta de atrás hasta El Ahorcado —un volcán redondo como una panza bocarriba—, cuentan hasta tres y corren de vuelta sin mirar atrás...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction fiction magical-realism contemporary female-author family book -
Where You Come From by Saša Stanišić, Damion Searls
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn August, 1992, a boy and his mother flee the war in Yugoslavia and arrive in Germany. Six months later, the boy’s father joins them, bringing a brown suitcase, insomnia, and a scar on his thigh...Categorized as:
coming-of-age journey literary-fiction 21st-century adult audiobook book contemporary -
Rost by Jakub Małecki
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratings2002 sterben die Eltern des siebenjährigen Szymek auf ihrem Rückweg in das kleine Dorf Cholny bei einem Autounfall. Sein Leben vor diesem Ereignis kippt in eine ihm scheinbar unerreichbare Vergangenheit...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction 21st-century adult audiobook book contemporary fiction -
Alte Sorten by Ewald Arenz
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSally und Liss: zwei Frauen, wie sie unterschiedlicher nicht sein könnten. Sally, kurz vor dem Abitur, will einfach in Ruhe gelassen werden. Sie ist wütend auf alles, hasst alles: Angebote, Vorschriften, Regeln, Erwachsene. Fragen hasst sie am meisten, vor allem nach ihrem Aussehen.Liss bewirtschaftet allein einen Hof zwischen Weinbergen und Feldern...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction adult audiobook book contemporary fiction mental-illness -
Pleasantview by Celeste Mohammed
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCoconut trees. Carnival. Rum and coke. To many outsiders, these idyllic images represent the supposed easy life in Caribbean nations such as Trinidad and Tobago. However, the reality is far different for those who live there—a society where poverty and patriarchy savagely rule, and where love and revenge often go hand in hand... -
Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA spellbinding saga about the inhabitants and inheritors of one rural community, by one of Iceland's most beloved novelists. A man comes to awareness in a church in rural Iceland, not knowing why he’s there or how he arrived... -
Los nombres propios by Marta Jiménez Serrano
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratings¿Quién es Belaundia Fu? Es la mejor amiga de Marta a los siete años: la amiga invisible que, en esos momentos en que las cosas no salen como había planeado y ni siquiera la abuela es capaz de consolarla, se sienta con ella y espera hasta que se le pase... -
No One Writes Back by Jang Eun-Jin
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsCommunication—or the lack thereof—is the subject of this sly update of the picaresque novel. No One Writes Back is the story of a young man who leaves home with only his blind dog, an MP3 player, and a book, traveling aimlessly for three years, from motel to motel, meeting people on the road...Categorized as:
literary-fiction journey fiction contemporary 21st-century female-author season-summer book -
The Dishwasher by Stéphane Larue
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt’s winter in Montreal, 2002, when a graphic design student’s gambling addiction starts to drag him under... -
Everything Calls for Salvation by Daniele Mencarelli
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWINNER OF THE 2020 YOUTH STREGA PRIZEFrom one of the most exciting voices in a new generation of Italian writers, a powerful and moving novel that explores both the darkest recesses and the most luminous regions of the human heartJune 1994. Twenty-year-old Daniele wakes up in a hospital room, confused and surrounded by strangers... -
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In Youth Is Pleasure: & I Left My Grandfather's House by Denton Welch, William S. Burroughs
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsKeenly observed autobiographical fiction and journal entries from acclaimed writer Denton Welch, featuring an introduction by William S. Burroughs “In Youth Is Pleasure” recounts the summer vacation of Orvil Pym—a sensitive, withdrawn, and deeply unhappy boy of fifteen. Following a trying year at public school, Orvil spends the summer with his father and two older brothers...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction anthologies classics contemporary fiction lgbtq literary -
The Lake Never Tells by Alex Tully
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsZoe has lived in Sunny Shores Trailer Park her whole life and she knows what the Memorial Day weekend brings—snobby rich kids who serve as a constant reminder of how pathetic her life really is. So when she meets Ethan, the awkward boy from the exclusive community of Crystal Waters, she can’t help being intrigued. He’s different, but in a good way... -
Cemetery Nights by Stephen Dobyns
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the fabulous storytelling of our dreams to the mute passions of domestic life, Stephen Dobyns explores a full range of human experience in these narrative poems... -
Second Line: Two Short Novels of Love and Cooking in New Orleans by Poppy Z. Brite
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingshese two short novels bookend Poppy Z. Brite’s cheerfully chaotic series starring two chefs in New Orleans. The Value of X introduces G-man and Rickey, who grew up in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and who are slowly realizing there are only two important things in life: cooking and each other... -
A Family Affair - A Free Preview of the First 7 Chapters by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAward-winning author ReShonda Tate Billingsley, whose bestselling fiction "tackles some of life’s toughest situations" ( The Florida Times-Union ), unravels the secrets in a mother’s past that turn her daughter’s life upside down—by revealing the family she never knew existed... -
HEAT - The Complete Series: BURN, SPARK, BLAZE & INFERNO by Deborah Bladon
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom New York Times Bestselling Author, Deborah Blazon, comes HEAT - The Complete Series. All four parts of the series are included in this bundle. BURN - Part One Landing a job at Manhattan's trendiest restaurant is everything Cadence Sutton wants. After leaving her ex-boyfriend behind, she's ready to focus on her career and Nova is the place to do that... -
From Afar by Frank Scozzari
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFor centuries, poets have argued that unrequited love is love in its strongest form. From Afar is a timeless tale of Morgan Stanfield’s search for love in the far northern city of Saint Petersburg, Russia...Categorized as:
coming-of-age journey literary-fiction action-adventure adult book contemporary fiction -
Rivers of Babylon by Peter Pišťanek
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsPeter Pišt'anek’s reputation is assured by Rivers of Babylon and by its hero, the most mesmerizing character of Slovak literature, Rácz, an idiot of genius, a psychopathic gangster. Rácz and Rivers of Babylon tell the story of a Central Europe, where criminals, intellectuals and ex-secret policemen have infiltrated a new ‘democracy’... -
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhere would I start, and how would it even make sense? How could you understand the year in Shandon Street unless you were there, with us, living it?Rachel Murray is twenty-one years old, platonically infatuated with her housemate James, and less-than-platonically infatuated with her enigmatic, married English professor Dr Byrne... -
After Tonight, Everything Will Be Different by Adam Gnade
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFalling somewhere between Trainspotting and Like Water for Chocolate, Adam Gnade’s self-described “food novel” frames each chapter around a meal, and from there moves wild in all directions. After Tonight, Everything Will Be Different takes place in San Diego taco shops and rundown beach apartments, on the amusement park boardwalk at 3am and in cars bound for Tijuana and drunken glory...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction north-america usa california urban fiction contemporary -
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The Brothers Silver by Marc Jampole
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJules and Leon Silver sit at a dusty Formica table in a cold kitchen, drinking warm sugar water. Downstairs in the basement, their mother is unconscious, having swallowed hundreds of Librium while the brothers were at Boy Scout camp, her latest suicide attempt. The food cupboards are empty. The phone doesn’t give a dial tone. As the sun goes down, the kitchen grows cold... -
Miroloi by Karen Köhler
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEin Dorf, eine Insel, eine ganze Welt: Karen Köhlers erster Roman erzählt von einer jungen Frau, die als Findelkind in einer abgeschirmten Gesellschaft aufwächst. Hier haben Männer das Sagen, dürfen Frauen nicht lesen, lasten Tradition und heilige Gesetze auf allem...Categorized as:
literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction feminism contemporary audiobook dystopia fantasy -
The House of Gazes by Daniele Mencarelli
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWinner of the 2019 John Fante First Novel Prize The critically acclaimed novel from the author of Everything Calls for Salvation , adapted into a Netflix Original series, is a powerful coming-of-age story about loss, identity, and rebirth Daniele is a young poet plagued by an unknown darkness, “an invisible disease of the heart, or of the mind...Categorized as:
literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction contemporary audiobook drama psychological book -
Cómplices by Taibo
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJulián ha luchado contra el aburrimiento de todas las maneras posibles. Desde que le diagnosticaron hepatitis, ha recreado en su cabeza conversaciones imaginarias entre ostras que no tienen nada que hacer, ha buscado formas fantasiosas en las manchas de la pared, ha lanzado mocos al aire. Pero es feliz porque no tiene que ir a la escuela... -
Syrian Brides by Anna Halabi
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis delightful collection of short stories offers insight into the lives of Syrian women, both the married and the brides-to-be. It reveals the warmth and humor as well as the oppression in the Syrian society. The stories make the reader laugh while addressing serious issues such as domestic violence... -
The Last Supper Catering Company by Michaelene McElroy
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medal, Readers' Favorite Five Star Review and winner of the Silver Medal for Women's Fiction, Amazon Kindle Bestseller - The Last Supper Catering Company is the humorous and heartwarming story of B. Thankful Childe-Lucknow. Turned out with red corkscrew hair, one eye brown, the other green, and gifted with the power to hear the voices of the departed, B... -
the truth about fragile things by Regina Sirois
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBryon died fifty years before his time. Charlotte grew up angry. I grew up scared. And Phillip- well, he never grew up. And now we are all bound together into one painful heap of humanity. Broken, but bound. And maybe it is only the fact that we are tangled in one terrible knot that will hold us together until we heal. This is unfortunately, and miraculously, my story...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction book contemporary female-author fiction realistic young-adult -
Home of the Floating Lily by Silmy Abdullah
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCaught between cultures, immigrant women from a Bangladeshi neighbourhood in Scarborough struggle to navigate their home, relationships, and happiness.Set in both Canada and Bangladesh, the eight stories in Home of the Floating Lily follow the lives of everyday people as they navigate the complexities of migration, displacement, love, friendship, and familial conflict...Categorized as:
journey literary-fiction fiction contemporary poc-author anthologies friendship female-mc -
Von hier betrachtet sieht das scheiße aus by Max Osswald
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBen Schneider ist erst 29, hat aber schon genug vom Leben im Hamsterrad: aufstehen, arbeiten, Sorgen machen, sterben. Seinen Job bei einer Wirtschaftsprüfungskanzlei hasst er mindestens so sehr wie seinen Vorgesetzten. Der Kontakt zu seiner Familie ist größtenteils abgerissen, für die Liebe oder Freunde hat er schon lange keine Zeit mehr...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction fiction male-mc contemporary mental-illness humor thriller -
Dear Marley by Danielle Keil
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEveryone at Ryder High knows what it means to have a teal envelope taped to their locker on the first day of the month.For Marley “Sunny” Sorenshine, a Secret Admirer might be just what she needs to put her recent, very public, break up behind her.Her optimism is dimmed when she reads the first note—her admirer was tricked into participating. He didn’t choose Marley, a dart did...Categorized as:
literary-fiction coming-of-age romance contemporary young-adult loner-mc fiction book -
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Letting Loose the Hounds by Brady Udall
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsHere are eleven big-hearted tales by an inspired storyteller at the beginning of his career. Set in the small towns of Utah and Arizona, most of these stories deal with letting loose - or wanting to - in all its forms. For the family hero in "Buckeye the Elder, " this means reverting to a more raucous past...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction adult anthologies contemporary fiction indigenous-mc poc-mc -
Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Riku Onda
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTender and intense, Honeybees and Distant Thunder is the unflinching story of love, courage and rivalry as three young people come to understand what it means to truly be a friend.In a small coastal town just a stone's throw from Tokyo, a prestigious piano competition is underway...Categorized as:
literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction contemporary 21st-century realistic book adult -
The Value of X by Poppy Z. Brite
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsGary and Rickey grew up in the Lower Ninth Ward, products of New Orleans as surely as Community Coffee or the Superdome. Friends since childhood, they become lovers at age 16 and must deal with the realities of being gay in a hardscrabble neighborhood, a traditional Catholic family, and the restaurant kitchens where they've begun to work...Categorized as:
coming-of-age culinary literary-fiction 21st-century book contemporary female-author fiction -
The Wrong Boy by Willy Russell
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe hilarious, bittersweet novel from the playwright behind EDUCATING RITA, SHIRLEY VALENTINE and award-winning musical BLOOD BROTHERS.Dear Morrissey,I'm feeling dead depressed and down. Like a streetlamp without a bulb or a goose at the onset of Christmas time.Anyroad, I thought I'd pen a few lines to someone who'd understand...It's 1991...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction action-adventure audiobook book contemporary fiction horror -
Dear Shameless Death by Latife Tekin
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA strange magical story of a young girl growing up in modern Turkey, from her birth in a small rural village haunted by fairies and demons to hertraumatic move to the big city. It concentrates on the daughter's struggle gainst her overbearing mother and is both fantastic and hallucinatory... -
Taking Flight by Adrian R. Magnuson
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJeremy Walsh’s parents assume he’s been abducted by the elderly man he met on a cross-country flight, but it’s the other way around...Categorized as:
coming-of-age journey literary-fiction action-adventure book contemporary drama fiction -
Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA pop-saturated epic novel about the second man on the moon, and the quiet thirty-year-old gardener who idolizes him. A story of unconventional psychiatry, the Faroe Islands, amateur boat building, and the journey across the space that divides us from other people: a journey as remote and dangerous as the trip to the moon itself... -
The Temptation to Be Happy by Lorenzo Marone, Shaun Whiteside
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCesare is a seventy-seven-year-old widower and cynical troublemaker, a man who has always struggled to care for others and has given up trying. Aside from an intermittent fling with a nurse called Rossana, he avoids contact with his neighbours and even his own children. One day, the enigmatic Emma moves into the neighbouring flat with her strange and sinister husband... -
The Few: A Novel by Hakan Günday
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratings“I am here. Where are you?” These desperate words link the two protagonists of Hakan Günday’s raw and fearless novel The Few. Derdâ is an eleven-year-old girl pulled out of boarding school by her mother who, without telling her, plans to sell her as a wife to a conservative tribesman. She goes with her new husband to London, where for five years he abuses and all but imprisons her... -
Lessons by Ian McEwan
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Two thousand miles from his mother's protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade...Categorized as:
literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction historical-fiction audiobook contemporary family book -
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Misophonia by Dana Vowinckel
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPart coming-of-age tale, part family saga, an extraordinary debut novel set between Berlin, Chicago, and Jerusalem “about being Jewish and German, and all the awkwardness that entails” (The Guardian).It’s the hottest of summers in Chicago, and fifteen-year-old Margarita is spending her vacation as usual, under the not-so-watchful eyes of her aging maternal grandparents... -
A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl by Nanda Reddy
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA girl takes on a series of identities to survive, shrouding herself in layer upon layer of secrets, until one morning years later when she is forced to reckon with her past."This debut is a beautiful, if sometimes harrowing, exploration of one woman’s journey. . . to a life built by her own grit and determination." -Library Journal, Starred Review... -
Pride High : Book 3 - Yellow by Jay Bell
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAnother year is winding down for the students of Pride High, but the drama is just ramping up!Ricky is finally dating dangerous Diego Gomez, but when they keep getting into trouble, he wonders if he’s bitten off more than he can chew. Anthony has decided to come out to his school in a big way and faces backlash, not just from his fellow students, but the principal as well... -
Shoko's Smile: Stories by Choi Eunyoung, Eun-young Choi
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA bestselling and award-winning debut collection from one of South Korea's most prominent young writers.In crisp, unembellished prose, Eun-young Choi paints intimate portraits of the lives of young women in South Korea, balancing the personal with the political. In the title story, a fraught friendship between an exchange student and her host sister follows them from adolescence to adulthood...Categorized as:
literary-fiction journey fiction contemporary feminism anthologies audiobook friendship -
Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, a powerful story of exile, migration, and betrayal.Salim has always known that his father does not want him. Living with his parents and his adored Uncle Amir in a house full of secrets, he is a bookish child, a dreamer haunted by night terrors. It is the 1970s and Zanzibar is changing... -
One on One by Tabitha King, Stephen King
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA high school basketball star and a defiant outcast discover a profound love that sustains them through a triumphant but painful year...
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