I have so much to say about this extraordinary debut. Every sentence was magnificently crafted, every word perfectly chosen.

Our main character, Piglet, a food-obsessed cookbook editor, has assembled the perfect life...or has she? Two weeks before her wedding, a shocking new piece of information threatens to destroy what she's set up for herself. Each chapter leading up to her wedding was so tense, so suspenseful, but I was rapt--I could not put this book down. The way that every cooking scene was written was not only mouth-watering but also meaningful, as food and hunger function as a metaphor for female desire/ambition/rage throughout the novel. If bloggers could describe their dishes like Hazell, I would never click "Jump to Recipe" again...and let's talk for a minute about the croquembouche scene. Oh. My. Goodness. It was nearly as anxiety-inducing as an episode of The Bear, yet I wouldn't have changed a thing.

To me, this story is about discerning between what we think we want and what we truly desire. After reading Piglet I am left wondering: what am I truly hungry for, and what might I need to sacrifice to find it on my plate?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Do you want to read a litfic novel about a doomed relationship that’s chock full of social class commentary and living for appearances, rather than actually living? She’s got some big Capricorn energy. Do you want to read some food porn coupled with wildly disordered eating?

Pre-reading:
Cover porn.

Thick of it:
irascible

pecorino

Delicious. Food porn already

roulade

I dream of hosting dinner parties with a partner.

Why is it not a compliment? Am I dumb? I don’t watch Bake Off. Is it because they’re amateur chefs and that would be calling her an amateur?

Oh no. They’re gonna have an affair, aren’t they?

The writing reminds me of Normal Women and Night Bitch with its romanticization of feminine rage and unequal labor.

posseting

The audiobook doesn’t match the Kindle edition, and it’s annoying me.

I feel like Piglet has the Capricorn/ Patrick Bateman fixation on appearances, and I really fuck with it.

Good god, I relate so much haha. The embarrassment of being poor.

Maldon salt makes all the difference!

It’s so well done. Just the fixation on food and the eating disorder and where it’s come from

Oh, and she’s got her read receipts on. Cap AF. I fucking I love this bitch.

The day before Halloween is a bad day for a wedding.

Big Swiss and Social Engagement vibes

This book is fabulous. High four so far. Might even slip to five. I need more bite for five though.

This book makes me HUNGRY and that just makes me think of that quote from Ninth House that I like so much. I respect hunger.

Florid

Oh and the patent Capricorn avoidance.

Abattoir

What would be worse? It’s other people knowing, and I know I’m absolutely fucked for that, but it’s always other people knowing.

craquelin

I’m not sure what it is with litfic and eroticizing eggs this year, but it’s really working for me.

Oh god, what a letdown. Fuck her dad.

God, don’t marry him.

I’m not a pastry chef, but wouldn’t you wanna remove the cones once they’re at the wedding venue?

They have so much money, but they have IKEA furniture?

Ugh, why would you say that????

Oh, don’t destroy the cake on the ride over. You worked so hard.

Franny is being lovely to her on her day.

cassoulet

Call me a snob, but a wedding stew is not cute.

God, I hope we find out the specifics of what he did.

I’m not loving this ending.

I think I’m cursed with endings lately.

This is half a book. This was all part one.

Post-reading:
Man, if ever there was a case for half-star ratings this is the book for it.

The food writing is phenomenal. It’s evocative. It’s a little grotesque. It teeters on erotic. It’s lush. It’s femme. It’s angry.

And then it goes fucking nowhere. We open the book knowing the relationship has to end, and that’s the book’s ultimate conclusion. It’s so deeply dissatisfying. If I can open the book, read chapter 1, and be like break up, your ending needs to do something more than that.

I think it’s a lovely character study. They’re such deeply flawed and realistic and familiar characters. But I’m at the point in my life where, like the main character, I can also recognize the problematic behaviors in the people around me and understand how they’re contributing to my personal brain goblins. I’m kinda like what’s next? Where do we go from the self-awareness? And the book doesn’t have an answer for that either. There’s no this is how you start to undo your childhood trauma. There’s no this is how to want things for yourself rather than just wanting the things you’ve been told to want. And the book doesn’t feel like our main character is coming to some great epiphany. Instead, the whole book just feels like one big exercise in burnout. Which would be great if there was a part two or a point to it. Unfortunately, the book is almost just a rumination on it, and I need more from a book.

The writing in this is better than my typical three stars. The writing is so good. You should pick this up. The ending is just so deeply unsatisfying to me that I have to give it three stars. Not to steal the book’s metaphors but you gave me all these ingredients for a good story, you started cooking with them, and then you turned off the heat before it could come to a boil. And now I’m just sitting here like bitch, I’m still hungry.

Also, call me nosy, but I wanted to know explicitly what that man did. What’s the depth of his offense? And I understand the reason for not including it because it does stop any criticism of she’s overreacting or that’s something you can work through. I understand that not everyone’s a Capricorn willing to cut people off the second they wrong them. But I’m just like any offense is too much for a life partner, so I wanted to know what it was.

And then, one other thing working against this book is the fact that I’ve read The Freedom Clause which is a very similar book in that it’s a character study about a food writer and extramarital affairs and class commentary and a family drama. I preferred the darker writing of this book because I am an angry, sad girl at my core, but I had a better time with and a better overall story arc from Freedom.

I don’t know, I really liked this. I will definitely be recommending it to people. I will be buying it for my shelf, but fucking give me more.

This book eats, but I’m still hungry goddamnit.

Who should read this:
Food porn aficionados
Angry sad girls
Character study fans

Do I want to reread this:
Kinda. I don’t know the ending really irritated me.

Similar books:
* The Freedom Clause by Hannah Sloane-the rom-com version of this book, affairs, family drama, food porn
* Social Engagement by Avery Carpenter Forrey-affairs, class commentary, family drama, character study
* Normal Women by Ainslie Hogarth-mommy horror, feminine rage, unhinged women
* Night Bitch by Rebecca Yoder-mommy horror, feminine rage, unhinged women
* Big Swiss by Jen Beagin-affairs, angry sad girl book, unhinged women
* Fireworks Every Night by Beth Raymer-class commentary, family drama, character study
* Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney-affairs destroying marriages and friendships, social commentary
* We Are Too Many by Hannah Pittard-affairs, character study
* Sam by Allegra Goodman-angry sad girl book, character study, family drama
* My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh-OG angry sad girl book
* Corinne by Rebecca Morrow-angry sad girl book but make it a romance
* I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins-girlypop intentionally blows up her life, family drama
* Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood-affairs, character study, family drama
* The Lifestyle by Taylor Hahn-affairs, girlypop realizes she settled in her relationship
* Vladimir by Julia May Jonas-affairs, social commentary, family drama
* Maeve Fly by C. J. Leede-hear me out, they’re nothing alike, but also big Capricorn energy

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.... and hated it at the same time. I kept waiting. And waiting. And waiting to find out....and then nothing.

But I think that’s what makes it so incredible. Well done.

A delicious debut! Both the US (a towering burger) and UK (towering frosted donuts) covers are brilliant and set the tone for the book. Piglet is a childhood nickname that followed the main character into adulthood because of her appetite and love for food. She works as a cookbook editor and cooks from her authors' elaborate recipes every day for herself, her fiancé, Kit, and whenever they can host friends or family in their new house in Oxford. Her relationship with Kit, an only child from a wealthy, established Oxford family, has helped propel her away from her hometown and lower class family back in Denby. Her weekly personal trainer sessions and spa days with her future mother-in-law who is paying for their posh wedding make Piglet both excited about her future life but still like a bit of an outsider. When Kit delivers news to her that could shatter the life that she's carefully built, Piglet reels while deciding what to do.

The writing is visceral and uses a close almost uncomfortable POV. The food descriptions and writing are great! Not only does Hazell do a good job making your mouth water as the food comes together, but she paints a picture of how Piglet feels while she's cooking. There are moments where Piglet becomes a slightly unreliable narrator with a few alternate reality moments that give the book an eerie feeling which works well with the tension from the wedding countdown. The tightly wound life Piglet has designed for herself slowly starts to unspool and the structure and pacing keep the pages turning as it does.

The big secret that Kit reveals to Piglet (not to the reader) worked as a plot focal point to a degree but then I feel like it was relied on too heavily. The background and foundation of their relationship was underdeveloped and therefore the stakes didn't seem as high as they could've been when it all comes crashing down. Piglet's family members were well developed and interesting whereas Kit's family seemed overdone and stereotypical.

The setting of London and Oxford bumped this up to four stars for me. Hazell writes her way through London almost as well as she writes about food. I'm currently in a love affair with London so this was especially special to me.

I'm excited to read more of Hazell's work after this impressive debut. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars?

I can't be sure how I want to rate this because Piglet was such an emotional rollercoaster of a book. We follow a 30-something character who is referred to solely by her childhood nickname, a nickname meant to be derogatory to her person and paint her as a certain type of individual, based on actions she protectively made for her younger sister. She is living a seemingly perfect life and preparing for her wedding when, one night, about two weeks until the big day, her fiancé delivers terrible news. The unraveling of Piglet's carefully held together façade fuels this book in ways that, sometimes all at once, made me feel angry, embarrassed, apprehensive, tense, shocked, and even amused. We're reading about a character that is mostly unlikeable, but I found myself wondering how much of it was because that was who she was, or because of what other people almost forced her to become?

It's powerful in the ways that our main character is put into these boxes that she didn't choose, and the negative ways those that did put her there respond to her rebellion. And I think almost anyone can relate to her feelings of shame, anger, and resentment as she figures out how to break from these boxes. How to go against the expectations placed on her.

I also think it was genius how Hazell never tells us what the news is that her fiancé shares with her, and we as the readers get to interpret what it might be based on the ways the other characters react when they find out. At first, I thought it was sort of like a "fill in the blank for your worst fear" of what a partner you're about to marry tells you two weeks before your wedding. It's bad enough that you consider calling everything off, but not bad enough to call it off . . . but it makes you question whether or not you should up until the very moment. But then, the more I read and the more characters found out, weighing their reactions, it added more speculation. I think it was meant to give the reader more insight into their value systems more than anything else. What are they willing to tolerate or keep secret to maintain the façade? It's genius. And I think, especially with a group of people who enjoys a book a like this, the conversation could go on forever.

Lastly, the food writing in this is incredible. I love that the author has research focusing on food writing in 21st century fiction, and that she specifically wrote this book. It was so good. It will be a book I'll be thinking about for a long, long time. Thank you to Henry Holt & Co. and NetGalley for giving me advanced reader access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review. This title published February 27, 2024.

Through lavish descriptions of food, incisive commentary, and an increasingly spiraling protagonist, Piglet recounts the story of a young woman on track to have it all—a perfect marriage, a career promotion, and support from close friends. Her life is interrupted when her fiancé's reveals a long-held secret that threatens to ruin everything.

This book is absolutely perfect—I can't believe it's a debut. The language is so careful and well-crafted, I regularly had to put it down just to think through what I'd read. I'm so glad I picked it up—I'll be reading everything this author writes.

Piglet has my heart - I really felt for this MC!!

I really enjoyed this book - lots of incredibly yummy food descriptions and a very thoughtful study of peoples' complicated relationship dynamics with food: how sharing a meal together is both connecting, disconnecting, and (can be) deeply ritualistic.

Piglet's relationship with food has been completely fused with her identity since she was a young child by all of her loved ones. Through cooking and creating meals, Piglet developed a sort of spiritual revelry for food that became all-consuming and then a debilitating obsession in her life. I wanted to root for her throughout the book and for her to find satisfaction and happiness in her life, especially with her parents and siblings, and with Margot.

Of course, we all collectively eye-roll at Kit (WHAT DID HE DO!?! I WANT THE GOSSIP!!!!), who, although he seems loving and supportive on the page, leaves the reader, still, with uncertainty and a bad taste. Gross. Although we never know, I didn't feel empathy for him and his unsatisfactory ending.

I think a common critique of this book will be not developing that relationship and understanding with Kit more, and although the reader will be left *extremely* curious about it, it didn't detract from the story for me. I loved watching this little slice of life and getting to know Piglet, she was a real treasure, even in all of her wedding-day mess.

This sits at a solid 4 stars for me at this time.

Forever judging books by their covers, and this one lived up to the hype.

If something is too good to be true, it probably is.
We follow Piglet, a wife to be to her fiancé, Kit. They have just bought a new home together, and are preparing for the extravagant wedding that Kit’s mother is commandeering.
Piglet is already having pre wedding doubts, but Kit tells her something one day that puts her mind completely on the fritz. How can she marry someone who has lied to her? And after this realization, Piglet is left to decide if the life she planned out is the correct path to take. Is comfortability and routine - what everyone thinks she should do - the life she should be destined to live?

I have never read anything that takes food and turns it into a complete dialogue. The meals, snacks, desserts in this book are passive aggressive, nurturing, angry, delicious. Have you ever put your anger and desires so selflessly into a choux? Have you ever dipped your finger into a pastry and thought, “This. This is me. I am you”? It’s truly a work of literary art.
The fears of marriage, motherhood, friendships changing, your family living without you as you dip into your new home, life moving on while you’re standing still all doled out onto a dinner plate… I have never been more terrified and seen in my entire life. Reading this was like gagging on a raw oyster, only to realize that it goes down smoothly if you swallow hard enough.
Loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of these thoughts and opinions are my own.

First of all, this book was SO British. Like, I can’t find a better way to describe it but it was so completely, entirely British.

I think the writing was gripping and the story flowed well, at parts there were times I did not want to pause the audiobook (The morning of the wedding? My god) for there was simply too much going on for me to stop. Piglet is trapped in a life she built for herself - and she’s hungry for more.

Overall, I wouldn’t say I liked any of the characters but the author did a fantastic job of making sure I didn’t - I could tell everyone was crafted with care and Piglet’s backstory was well developed for me to better understand why she is the way she is in present day. To be honest, the writing was so visceral that I got literal second hand embarrassment for her at some points (the restaurant, the dress..). Not a lot of books can pull a physical reaction out of you like that, so cheers to Hazell’s debut!

None of the food descriptions were appealing to me, personally? It didn’t make me hungry but more made me want to gag, as Piglet’s over gluttonous attitude towards food was just a scream for help or an act of desperation for control. I would say there should definitely be a trigger warning for disordered eating, and by the premise/cover alone (That burger cover is so chef’s kiss, literally) it’s obvious food is central to this narrative, so please be mindful going into this!

My final thought: none of the characters were likable, it was honestly difficult to empathize for Piglet (our main character.. the fact that she allows people to call her Piglet? Moving on), and the food/cooking scenes were borderline too descriptive for me - this was all done very purposefully, and that deserves 4 stars from me even if this didn’t personally satisfy me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Henry Holt and Co, and MacMillan Audio for both the e-arc and audiobook arc in exchange for my honest opinions.

From the cover to the description and characters, this story is like a food companion to comfort the readers through the hardship we find Piglet going through. The author did a wonderful job with the meals that Piglet would make and you felt her seek comfort though eating through her feelings.

While eating your feelings can provide short-term relief and distraction to our character's emotional pain, we find it does not address the underlying issues. Piglet's life is changing so fast as we get introduced to her complex relationship with her family to her even more complex relationship with her future in-laws. Piglet tries to cope with her upcoming wedding as a looming secret from her fiance is revealed leaving one choice for Piglet - to cook.

Big thanks to NetGalley, author and Henry Holt & Company for the ARC.

This book completely caught me off-guard. I was expecting a pretty average read, maybe 4 stars, and then Piglet immediately annoyed me and I was like oh man, this is going to suck, but that quickly changed. Piglet is a trainwreck who self-sabotages and eventually becomes self-aware. I had a good time accompanying her on that journey. My only issue is that the ending is a bit too on the nose and that lack of creativity just wasn't forgivable.

This is a well written book but I found the story quite frustrating. The protagonist faces a difficult situation fairly early on in the story and then spends the majority of the book self-sabotaging. I did enjoy the descriptions about Piglet's cooking, and her love of good food. However, Piglet seems to be a stress eater so the food descriptions often went along with the parts when she's self-sabotaging.

What a delightful debut. I loved the unnamed betrayal, I loved getting to see Pippa’s struggles and pain through her relationship with food, I loved the complex social structures. Very strong and exciting piece of art!

Well written, I did enjoy the food descriptions. However, too many questions unanswered, especially the biggest one. That really made me like the book less. Solid debut but ultimately left me confused and frustrated. Thank you #netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

When the novel opens, we are introduced to Piglet (whose parents bestowed the nickname because she “can’t leave a table until every bite has been hovered up”), an assistant cookbook editor at a London publishing house, and her fiancé, Kit, who are hosting their first dinner party at their new home. It’s the run-up to their wedding, and Piglet experiences the usual jitters - last minute dress fittings, a bridesmaid who could give birth at any moment, and the embarrassment caused by the class distinctions between Kit’s upper-class parents and Piglet’s working class parents.

Despite the evocative name “Piglet” the reader is not given much in terms of physical description. We know that Piglet is tall because “[h]er size seemed to invite men who didn’t know her to ask if she played basketball.” We also learn that Piglet was taller and larger than her sister, Franny, who had an eating disorder as a teenager and is married to Darren whose business, “fitting furniture in coffeehouse all over the Midlands,” has tanked and is asking Piglet for a loan.

When Kit reveals some undefined betrayal 13 days before the wedding, Piglet has to make a choice — proceed with marriage, or start her life anew. Her pregnant bridesmaid, Margot, who she entrusted with this information, urges Piglet not to proceed, “You deserve more than this!” Piglet was obstinate insisting that she could “decide if it’s OK.” “No you don’t,” Margot said, her voice raised. “Not if you make decisions like this.” Piglet reacts by withdrawing from Kit and eating copious amounts of food.

Although Hazell’s description of her characters is spare, and we never learn the real nature of Kit’s betrayal, the descriptions of the elaborate meals that Piglet creates, or the food that she is consuming, are lush, evocative and unctuous. Although it is difficult to classify this novel, I kept propulsively reading it — with quite a few snack breaks — until I was finished and fully sated.

𝘗𝘪𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘵 is one of the most darkly comedic books I’ve read in a long time and will definitely be among my favorite books of 2024. I’m literally obsessed. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Our main protagonist has the unfortunate nickname of Piglet and we don’t actually learn her real name until the end of the book. We meet Piglet as she’s preparing for her upcoming wedding to the upper-class Kit, while also juggling the increasing pressures of her job as a cookbook editor. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
After an unexpected confession by Kit, things really take on a frenetic pace, and tensions rise to a fever pitch in the days leading up to their wedding as Piglet is still determined to make her own wedding cake, a towering croquembouche. All the while Piglet is stuffing her own emotions down with increasing quantities of food. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
I devoured this excellent book. The luscious food descriptions are dazzling. The wedding dress and croquembouche scenes, while quite disturbing, were incredible. The author’s sharp observations about the expectations placed on women - and that we place on ourselves - are quite relatable. As Piglet described herself, “𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴.”⁣⁣
⁣⁣
This acerbic tale is absolutely delicious. Highly recommend! ⁣⁣
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Many thanks to Henry Holt Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved this one. I alternated between reading the egalley and listening to the audiobook. I was immediately caught up in the narrative, and the audio version artfully captured the mood and characterizations. My heart broke for Piglet as I read, and by the end, I was utterly invested in her story. Highly recommended for literary fiction fans.

Two hours to assemble the croquembouches. Three hours to assemble herself.

Oh. My goodness. The perfect book club book as you gather and discuss, what would be terrible to almost call off the wedding, but not quite… but really, it’s just the underlining symptom of something else already going on.

3.5 rounded down

I really struggled with how to rate this. I read the first 50% relatively quickly, but then it took me a week to get to 75% and then another five days to finish the book. That’s not to say this was a bad book. The writing itself was lovely, the premise interesting, and the plot expertly unsettling. Piglet learns something about her fiancé less than two weeks before their wedding. The first part of the book follows her as the clock ticks down struggling to be okay with his betrayal and maintain this perfect image of her life that she’s tried to cultivate. Piglet is not necessarily a likable character but of her slow descent into derangement and loss of control make her sympathetic, if not frustrating due to her inability to communicate. The descriptions of food and the tension built up in them were really really well done.

But then I got to the second part of the book, and if you suffer from second-hand anxiety like I do, it will be TOUGH to get through. I was so tense waiting for the shoe to drop. I would read a page then put the book down for a day or so until I just forced myself to finish. I mean that’s probably a sign of great writing, to evoke that kind of response. I didn’t enjoy it necessarily, but it was great writing and I NEEDED to see how it played out. The very ending of the book was easy to get through, hopeful and a little sad.

So after going through all that, I’m left wondering how to rate it. It was not a relaxing reading experience, but it was a solid debut with very talented writing. Besides all the tension, there did seem to be something missing in the exploration of Piglet’s backstory that made me not connect with her fully. And after two weeks of reading it I’m struggling to really recall details of the first half and how I felt about it, so that’s a sign that it didn’t stick with me enough to give it four stars.

Piglet (a childhood nickname she doesn’t seem to mind) is consumed by her relationship and upcoming wedding to Kit, her handsome, affluent boyfriend who has just divulged his regretful(?) behavior that lasted years. In the weeks leading up to her wedding, Piglet makes head-scratching and uncomfortable decisions. The shame is palpable, behaviors embarrassing, and every bit is realistic.