Antanas Sileika has invented a new genre: the culinary picaresque. Throw in the Cold War, dissident shenanigans, an ideologue mother, knife-fighting love story, iron curtain Bohemians, and more than half a dozen traditional and innovative Lithuanian recipes and you get a sense of the many flavors Sileika blends to perfection in this sad, funny, insightful, propulsive banquet of a novel. This is a rare dish served by a master chef. -- Tamas Dobozy, author of the Governor General's Awardshortlisted and Writer's Trust Fiction Prizewinning Siege 13 A delicious peek into the world of spies, artists and food at the fringes of the Soviet Union. Sileikas prose is wry and wise, and conjures up a place and time that glimmers like a bittersweet memory. -- Trevor Cole, author of Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humourwinning Practical Jean
