15-05-2025
Welcome to the restaurant for hungry ghosts — a deliciously silly novel
Kostya is 11 years old when he tastes his first ghostly meal. At the pool, sunburnt and missing his dead father, he feels a flavour travel across his tongue out of nowhere. 'Chicken liver, sautéed onions, fresh dill garnish, squeeze of lemon. Pechonka.' It was once his Ukrainian father's favourite dish.
Kostya's special gift is that ghosts can send him messages through his tongue. When he's near someone grieving, the food their departed loved one is craving suddenly appears at the back of his throat. It's always a meal that holds an important memory, making him a sort of Proust by proxy. He's biking in a New York City park when his mouth is suddenly filled with ghostly chicken wings. On the Q subway train
