Land of Milk and Honey

I devoured this dystopian follow-up to Zhang's debut How Much of These Hills Is Gold; I happened to get my hands on Eunice Wong's narration early and LOVED it in that format. In this urgent and moody tale, the end of the world arrives in the form of encroaching smog that begins in Iowa and slowly spreads to choke out the sun, so that humanity—or at least most of us—are forced to subsist on a bland and gritty flour for our nutrients. Our protagonist in this dour world is a chef—so when she is offered a position that will allow her to prepare meals for the über-wealthy at a hidden bunker for the elite using choice ingredients like strawberries, crème fraîche, and chicken, how can she refuse? She doesn't even try, and soon becomes thoroughly entangled in the lives of her wealthy employer, his beautiful daughter, and their morally dubious quest to preserve the life we once knew—at a cost. Scintillating and sensual, especially (but not only) when it comes to descriptions of the food.