You have to be able to stand a bit of black humour when reading this novel. There's also the danger of getting a terrible appetite for Italian food!

Greeks, Arabs, Romans and Spaniards have left their mark on Sicilian cuisine. Fruits and vegetables, which grow in abundance in the favourable climate, are imaginatively processed into sumptuous dishes. 

The heroine of the book, Rosa, grows up in a traditional Sicilian family with many brothers. Her passion for cooking is evident even as a child, as her favourite residence is the great cuisine of the estate. In addition to food, the Mafia plays an important role in this book and tradition. Not only pigs, calves and chickens are slaughtered, but honour killings also happen - more is not revealed here about the history. As Rosa grows up, her culinary art becomes a cooking frenzy, as she processes everything she has in stock and it is a great pleasure for some, to look over her shoulder. We feel transported to the large country kitchen with a brick stove and a huge oak table, where Rosa kneads pasta and bread dough with the strength of her arms and the sweat of her face. Rosa cooks for a small army, processes mountains of fruit and vegetables, makes ham and sausages in copper kettles for her family and the farm workers who come tired from the fields and gather around the polished table.

We smell the fragrance of the fresh bread, the baked fish, the pâtés with chicken liver, so that when we read it, the water already runs into our mouths. Delicious pasta sauces that simmer for hours, but also delicate lemon ricotta cakes and almond sweets and last but not least the hot love make this juicy, hearty book.

Full of life, kitchen smells, sex and mafia!