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I have to say up front that I absolutely loved this book, but also that whenever I picked it up I wanted to eat something savoury, because cheese figures very heavily in the plot of the novel. The main story is set in 1969 when Edward Trencom, purveyor of cheeses and owner of a quite remarkable nose, finds out that his family has been subject to what appears to be a curse for nine generations, going back to the Great Fire of London in 1666. He finds a large box of papers and begins to delve into his family’s past to try and discover how each of his direct forbears met their fates, and why they were obsessed with Constantinople and the Greeks. As Edward’s story goes forward we are presented with vignettes from the lives of said ancestors, usually at the point at which they meet their ends. Can Edward be saved from the same fate by the intervention of his wife, Elizabeth, or will he make the same mistake as those before him?

This is really, really enjoyable stuff, and you pick up quite a bit of knowledge about cheese (and history) along the way. Even though you know from the outset how Edward ends up, you aren’t told how and why until the end, which is very satisfying. I’m already pushing the Book God to read this, and would urge anyone else to give it a try also.