BANGALORE: Twenty-Five exotic Spanish recipes wrapped in the fictional tale about Rose, her struggle with friends, family and love, and a gypsy woman who brings the magic back — those are the ingredients of the book Sangria, authored by Manuela Requena. Manuela is a chef and aspiring author from Brisbane and has strong roots in Spain. The book begins on a quaint note with the romantic charm of a Heidi or an Anne of Green Gables. Add to it Rose’s meeting with a gypsy lady in the market who guides her through the cuisine, and the setting is complete.
As you read on you, the book takes on the flavour of chick lit. There are conversations around food (most of the book revolves around discussions), incidents around food, emotions around it. It is food that gradually works magic to help Rose deal with family, friends, love and her own physical difficulty of not being able to smell or taste anything. It is not a path-breaking literay work. It is actually a nice cook book innovatively cradled in fiction.
The story has been inspired by Requena’s own life — she had lost her sense of taste and smell due to an infection.
One spoiler warning though. Before getting a copy, leaf through the pages thoroughly. Some of the copies start abruptly from page 7 or even later, and it could have been considered as just a peek into the novella like a movie trailer had the page not ended in half sentence.
Also some of the pages can be blank — in one print page 5 ends mid-way and page 6 is missing. That spoils the rhythm and flow. So, if you don’t want it to leave a bad taste, run a check before buying the book.
