Cinnamon and Gunpowder

A gripping adventure, a seaborne romance, and a twist on the tale of Scheherazade—with the best food ever served aboard a pirate’s shipThe year is 1819, and the renowned chef Owen Wedgwood has been kidnapped by the ruthless pirate Mad Hannah Mabbot. He will be spared, she tells him, as long as he puts exquisite food in front of her every Sunday without fail.To appease the red-haired captain, Wedgwood gets cracking with the meager supplies on board. His first triumph at sea is actual bread, made from a sourdough starter that he leavens in a tin under his shirt throughout a roaring battle, as men are cutlassed all around him. Soon he’s making tea-smoked eel and brewing pineapple-banana cider.But Mabbot—who exerts a curious draw on the chef—is under siege. Hunted by a deadly privateer and plagued by a saboteur hidden on her ship, she pushes her crew past exhaustion in her search for the notorious Brass Fox. As Wedgwood begins to sense a method to Mabbot’s madness, he must rely on the bizarre crewmembers he once feared: Mr. Apples, the fearsome giant who loves to knit; Feng and Bai, martial arts masters sworn to defend their captain; and Joshua, the deaf cabin boy who becomes the son Wedgwood never had.Cinnamon and Gunpowder is a swashbuckling epicure’s adventure simmered over a surprisingly touching love story—with a dash of the strangest, most delightful cookbook never written. Eli Brown has crafted a uniquely entertaining novel full of adventure: the Scheherazade story turned on its head, at sea, with food.ReviewsFrom BooklistBrown transports readers to 1819 via the narration of Owen Wedgwood. He is the renowned chef for the wealthy owner of Pendleton Trading Company, an economic powerhouse that controls the ocean-shipping lines from east to west. When the infamous pirate Mad Hannah Mabbot commandeers their ship, Wedgwood watches her murder his employer, then steal his supper. Intoxicated by Wedgwood’s skill with a skillet, Mabbot forces him to cook for his life aboard her ship where she holds him prisoner. Soon he is swept up into Mabbot’s hunt for the Brass Fox, a rival rogue. At first this quest seems purely selfish, but as Wedgwood dines weekly with the captain, he begins to see the altruism that actually motivates the battle-hardened beauty. Brown concocts a clever tale in which history, ethics, action, and romance blend harmoniously. Tantalizing descriptions of the smells and flavors of the dishes Wedgwood creates may send readers running to their spice cabinets in search of the blends he exalts in, even as they are entranced by Brown’s delectable tale.