La Cheffe, roman d’une cuisinière

A novel of admiration and devotion, La Cheffe traces, through the voice of a former kitchen assistant in love with her, the ascetic discipline of a chef of genius who rejects gastronomic folklore in favor of a pared-down, exacting cuisine, one directed entirely toward the truth of taste. In this one-sided confession — where adoration borders on blindness — Marie NDiaye explores creation as a moral discipline, and also the solitude of exceptional women in a milieu that long remained overwhelmingly male.