Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown ISBN: 9781250050182
Published by Picador on June 3, 2014
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 336
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The year is 1819, and the renowned chef Owen Wedgwood has been kidnapped by a beautiful yet ruthless pirate. He will be spared, Mad Hannah Mabbot tells him, as long as he can conjure an exquisite meal every Sunday from the ship's meager supplies. While Wedgwood attempts to satisfy his captor with feats such as tea-smoked eel and pineapple-banana cider, he realizes that Mabbot herself is under siege. Hunted by a deadly privateer and plagued by a saboteur, she pushes her crew past exhaustion in her search for the notorious Brass Fox. But there is a method to Mabbot's madness, and as the Flying Rose races across the ocean, Wedgwood learns to rely on the bizarre crew members he once feared: a formidable giant who loves to knit; a pair of stoic martial arts masters, sworn to defend their captain; and the ship's deaf cabin boy, who becomes the son he never had.
An anarchic tale of love and appetite, Eli Brown's Cinnamon and Gunpowder is a wildly original feat of the imagination, deep and startling as the sea itself.
This is a re-read. I originally read this in Feb 2015, on audiobook, and loved it. Given that I’ve been playing Yours, Etcetera, a play-by-mail alt-Regency LARP set in 1812, and this story is set in 1819, I decided a re-read was warranted. Also, my character (Sophrona Ramsbury) is courting Charlotte Merriweather, and their ‘couple name’ was decided by others to be Cinnamon and Gunpowder, so it felt mandated by fate to re-read this book.
And wow, does it still move me. Even reading the hardcover this time around, and being in a totally different place in my life, I loved it. It made me cry, laugh, drool (at the descriptions of the dishes Owen makes), and swoon- Eli Brown, I salute you.
It is a swashbuckling adventure with historical political undertones, equally focused on character growth and action/plot, with excellent pacing throughout and a beautiful amount of visual detail.
I recommend it- still- for anyone who enjoys any of the above elements. I may even re-read it a third time in a few years (to date, the only book I’ve read 3 times is Jane Eyre- I am not generally a re-reader) so that tells you how enjoyable I found it to be.
Read for the Wide World of HistFic Reading Challenge, but also because I love this book.
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