Humanities & Social Sciences
Description
Half a world away from her home in Manitoulin Island, Ethel Mulvany is starving in Singapore’s infamous Changi Prison, along with hundreds of other women jailed there as POWs during the Second World War. They beat back pangs of hunger by playing decadent games of make-believe and writing down recipes filled with cream, raisins, chocolate, butter, cinnamon, ripe fruit—the unattainable ingredients of peacetime, of home, of memory.
In this novelistic, immersive biography, Suzanne Evans presents a truly individual account of WWII through the eyes of Ethel—mercurial, enterprising, combative, stubborn, and wholly herself. The Taste of Longing follows Ethel through the fall of Singapore in 1942, the years of her internment, and beyond. As a prisoner, she devours dog biscuits and book spines, befriends spiders and smugglers, and endures torture and solitary confinement. As a free woman back in Canada, she fights to build a life for herself in the midst of trauma and burgeoning mental illness.
Woven with vintage recipes and transcribed tape recordings, the story of Ethel and her fantastical POW Cookbook is a testament to the often-overlooked strength of women in wartime. It’s a story of the unbreakable power of imagination, generosity, and pure heart.
More Information
Rights Information
World rights held.
Endorsements
“This is a story of hardship, cruelty, and disease—but also of endurance, indomitability, and friendship. Centred around a remarkable cookbook, Evans vividly recounts Ethel’s resilience and commemoration of the war that marked her for life.”
– Tim Cook, author of Vimy: The Battle and the Legend
“Suzanne Evans has delved deep and written with great sympathy about the long drama of picking up the pieces of a broken life.”
—Elizabeth Hay, Giller Prize-winning author of Late Nights on Air
Author Biography
Dr. Suzanne Evans holds a PhD in religious studies. After working, studying, and living in China, Indonesia, India, and Vietnam, she now lives and writes in Ottawa. She is the author of Mothers of Heroes, Mothers of Martyrs: World War I and the Politics of Grief. Her writing, which has appeared in academic and literary journals, newspapers, magazines, and books, has a strong focus on women and war.
Bibliographic Information
- Publisher Between the Lines
- Publication Date September 2020
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9781771134897
- Publication Country or regionCanada
- FormatPaperback
- Pages354
- ReadershipGeneral
- Publish StatusPublished
- Copyright Year2020
Thank you for proceeding with this offer.
Between the Lines has chosen to review this offer before it proceeds.
You will receive an email update that will bring you back to complete the process.
You can also check the status in the My Offers area
Between the Lines has chosen to review this offer before it proceeds.
You will receive an email update that will bring you back to complete the process.
You can also check the status in the My Offers area
Please wait while the payment is being prepared.
Do not close this window.
(c) Copyright 2024 - Frankfurt Rights. All Right Reserved