Pomegranate Soup

Pome­gran­ate Soup by Mar­sha Mehran

Three sis­ters flee Iraq in the midst of polit­i­cal and per­sonal tur­moil and set­tle in a quaint lit­tle Irish town called Ballinacroagh.

Rem­i­nis­cent of Joanne Harris’s Choco­lat, the sis­ters open The Baby­lon Café serv­ing exquis­itely cre­ated Iran­ian fare that tran­scends the bland local offering. Gradually, they win over the jolly Father Fer­ber Mahoney and a num­ber of his merry fol­low­ers, all inex­plic­a­bly drawn to the café’s sub­lime and exotic aro­mas.
Not every­one, how­ever, is entranced by their instant suc­cess – least of all the town bully, Thomas McGuire, who monop­o­lises local busi­ness with his scare tac­tics. He also har­bours a deep desire to take over The Baby­lon Café for the cre­ation of a tacky disco.
The past also threat­ens to haunt the sis­ters and brings an insid­i­ous dark­ness to the fresh start they hope for. Each chap­ter begins with a recipe and by the end, the reader can almost taste the plump ‘ele­phant ears’ — pas­tries dusted in sugar and cin­na­mon, the heady aroma of abgusht - a rich, clear broth made with lamb, veg­eta­bles and lash­ing of exotic herbs and spices – and of course, the fra­grant blend of Pome­gran­ate Soup.
A gas­tro­nom­i­cal read that left my mouth water­ing — and my stom­ach beg­ging me to seek out a lit­tle Mid­dle East­ern café tucked away in my own city.
A feast of the senses!

Pub­lished by Harper Collins

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