Das Buch vom Salz

Now available as a paperback

Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein – the most famous female couple of the 20th century

A sentence from the "Alice B. Toklas Cook Book" inspired Monique Truong to write her novel about the Vietnamese cook of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in Paris. He lived for five years as a cook in the famous apartment at 27 Rue de Fleurus, where Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein welcomed the heroes of the Lost Generation for tea, observing their rituals and habits, their eccentricities and their genius.

Monique Truong tells the story of Binh and the "Steins" in a rich, intelligent, and sensual style, intricately woven with tension. She takes us back to Binh's youth in colonial Vietnam, his time at sea, and his attempts to establish himself in Paris. Binh, the narrator, is a stranger, a lost soul whose love for men forced him to flee his homeland, serving as both a touching and somewhat unreliable storyteller. Beautifully and ambiguously written, "The Book of Salt" – dedicated to the salt in food, in the sea, in tears – is a feast for the senses and for storytelling.

"The Book of Salt" locates identity on the tongue, providing the reader with a descriptive orgy that skillfully oscillates between appetite and goosebumps."
Jutta Person, Süddeutsche Zeitung.