Let the feast begin

   

     Months ago I wrote an introductory post on Lawrence Norfolk's new novel John Saturnall's Feast, and after making an excellent start with the book - I was enjoying it greatly - I had to put it down in favour of 'deadline reading' and I'm only now about to pick it up again.

    Having begun with the proof, here is the beautiful finished copy with jacket design by Holly Macdonald, but for an even stronger visual impression of the novel's subject matter, have a look at this short film of the author talking about the story - and the history of English cooking which inspired it - in the atmospheric setting of early seventeenth century Ham House.