Title: After Taste
Author: Daria Lavelle
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK & ANZ
Release Date: 22nd May 2025
BLURB
Konstantin Duhovny is a haunted man. His father died when he was ten, and ghosts have been hovering around Kostya ever since. Kostya can’t exactly see the ghosts, but he can taste their favorite foods. Flavors of meals he’s never eaten will flood his mouth, a sign that a spirit is present. Kostya has kept these aftertastes a secret for most of his life, but one night, he decides to act on what he’s tasting. And everything changes.
Kostya discovers that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones—at least for the length of time it takes for them to eat a dish that he’s prepared. He thinks his life’s purpose might be to offer closure to grieving strangers, and sets out to learn all he can by entering a particularly fiery ring of Hell: the New York culinary scene. But as his kitchen skills catch up with his ambitions, Kostya is too blind to see the catastrophe looming in the Afterlife. And the one person who knows Kostya must be stopped also happens to be falling in love with him.
Set in the bustling world of New York restaurants and teeming with mouthwatering food writing, Aftertaste is a whirlwind romance, a heart-wrenching look at love and loss, and a ghost story about all the ways we hunger—and how far we’d go to find satisfaction.
Lavelle’s debut is a multi-course tasting menu of a book that will sate, delight, excite, comfort, and inspire even the pickiest of readers.
Kostya discovers that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones—at least for the length of time it takes for them to eat a dish that he’s prepared. He thinks his life’s purpose might be to offer closure to grieving strangers, and sets out to learn all he can by entering a particularly fiery ring of Hell: the New York culinary scene. But as his kitchen skills catch up with his ambitions, Kostya is too blind to see the catastrophe looming in the Afterlife. And the one person who knows Kostya must be stopped also happens to be falling in love with him.
Set in the bustling world of New York restaurants and teeming with mouthwatering food writing, Aftertaste is a whirlwind romance, a heart-wrenching look at love and loss, and a ghost story about all the ways we hunger—and how far we’d go to find satisfaction.
Lavelle’s debut is a multi-course tasting menu of a book that will sate, delight, excite, comfort, and inspire even the pickiest of readers.
REVIEW
I’ve seen two different covers for this book and have to say I love them both! Though if I absolutely had to choose between them, I think it would be the darker cover with the salt cascading down into the ghostly blue/green essence. I think the byline on this book is what makes me favour it slightly more over the other one too!
I was lucky enough to read a sampler of this book and lets just say a taster was not enough (pardon the pun). I do find the afterlife and all the different ways we can communicate with those there a fascinating subject. After discovering Kostya’s gift was “clairgustance” (which I had never heard of before) I was totally intrigued and knew I needed to read this book to learn more and discover Kostya’s story.
We initially meet the main character, Konstantin Duchovny or Kostya as his friends later call him. Kostya deeply regrets the last angry words he had with his father who was rushing to get to work and ended up being involved in an accident and was killed. Kostya has never forgiven himself for those last angry words and always yearned for a chance to apologise to his father. Sadly, after the death of Kostya’s father, his mother is consumed by the loss & grief and pays very little attention to an increasingly lonely young son, who already feels isolated due to being in a country with a language and customs still foreign to him.
When a game he used to play with his father suddenly evolves and reappears back in his life, he isn't sure what to think. He can suddenly taste emotions and a food/meal without ever having eaten it. It makes him feel closer to his father again so of course he embraces it. It takes away some of the feelings of loneliness he is having and reminds him of the happy memories he had with his father. He tries to explain it to his mother, wanting and expecting reassurance and loving understanding from her. Instead, he is taken to doctors who poke, prod, and medicate him, and send him to an institution for more poking and prodding. When Kostya cannot stand it any longer, he simply agrees with those thinking he made it all up for attention and is finally sent back home to live out an increasingly lonely existence still yearning for attention from his mother and a way to make peace with his last angry words with his father.
As Kostya grows up he continues having these “tastes” they are clearly here to stay and not something he is making up. Kostya experiments with the encouragement of his best friend and flatmate Frankie. Kostya’s “talent” is however hit and miss it does not always work for everyone that seeks the type of closure it offers. Kostya later realises that both sides need to want to meet for the aftertaste experience to work. Despite being warned off by tarot card reader Madame Everleigh aka Maura, who is someone with her own secrets, Kostya continues his experimentation with communicating with those in the afterlife via food/tastes.
Kostya has some interesting instances of communicating via tastes initially in a bar he is working in when he connects a Steve Tyler look-a-like to a woman in his past, to when he connects two nuns in his own small kitchen in the flat, he shares with Frankie who is himself a talented chef at a local restaurant called Wolfpup. Unfortunately, there’s a fire at Wolfpup and Frankie is killed. Once again, Kostya is experiencing grief, this time of a close friend whom had become like family to him.
Its then that Madame Everleigh/Maura comes back into his life and shares her own secrets and her grief for her sister Everleigh. Basically, they support each other, they become each others world really, each encouraging the other to continue to live and not dwell on the past so much.
Just when Kostya is about to give up on his dream of a restaurant where he could serve closure as well as amazing tasting food, an unexpected offer arrives from Viktor Musizchka. Viktor will provide the premises, with a kitchen fitted out to Kostya’s specifications, Kostya can also choose his own kitchen team. Once again, Kostya ignores advice, this time it’s his mother who tells Kostya that Viktor Musizchka is in the mob and a dangerous man.
Kostya recreates a last taste/last conversation for Maura and her sister Everleigh though Maura insists on being alone for the experience and refuses to talk about it afterwards with Kostya. It turns out that Madame Everleigh/Maura’s warning that there is always a price to be paid for connecting to the other side is correct. Despite Maura & Kostya trying to put things right on one side of the afterlife and Everleigh & Frankie trying on the afterlife side when nothing they do works and the ultimate price has to be paid Kostya bravely accepts his fate.
I loved Kostya’s character it was such a shame his own mother wasn’t able to put her own grief aside to listen to her own son and maybe somehow help him nurture his talent. Kostya certainly had his heart in the right place, even when he had the restaurant, he insisted in doing meals and chances at a meal/ conversation with a loved one for those who could not afford the eye watering prices Viktor wanted to charge everyone. What started out as a need to reconnect this dead father has grown into a career, a very lucrative business according to Viktor, though Kostya still concentrates on helping others reconnect to dead friends & family. Enabling closure for those here & in the afterlife.
I had mixed feeling about Maura, you’ll understand why when you read the book. I was interested in her as a tarot reader and why she became Madame Everleigh but when she makes her confession to Kostya I kind of lost respect for her. Then again, I still couldn’t help liking her.
The book really takes you on wave of different emotions, there is humour, but it does deal with grief and what entails, what it feels like for different people. It really deals with grief well, openly and honestly. I it was the serious subject matter that made me seem to read at a slower pace than usual. I kind of read a bit, thought about it, then read more. It’s the type of book that really makes you think.
The descriptions in the book are brilliant, I loved the comparison of something being “like carving a roast.” I have to admit I wasn’t initially keen on the famous Steven Tyler reference with Charlie, I don't think it was really needed though I guess having his first aftertaste with a famous person look-a-like added more interest and imagery. There’s lots of foods, herbs, and ingredients mentioned that I felt went totally over my head, though “foodies” will probably recognise them and see more relevance than I did. Having said that, I did still enjoy reading the detailed descriptions of the different tastes Kostya was getting, the way he detailed the flavours, different foods/ingredients and the seasonings. It made me feel a little guilty not being able to fully appreciate those descriptions and how Kostya pulled the meal together to recreate not just a meal but that persons specific tast and experience of that meal that they had previously eaten with their loved one.
My immediate thoughts upon finishing the book were that it was interesting, intriguing, had a captivating plot, great world building & characters you grew to love. It was a shame there was no “riding off into the sunset” for Kostya and Maura.
Summing up, I was intrigued and loved the clairgustance aspect and really enjoyed reading those sections. I have mixed feelings & emotions about the ending, though when you think a little & have time to 'digest' the book, the ending was quite fitting & poignant. This book was definitely captivating and deeply emotional......depending on your beliefs, very emotive. I know for sure that I would have been extremely tempted by an offer from Kostya for one last meal/conversation with my parents.
I’ve seen two different covers for this book and have to say I love them both! Though if I absolutely had to choose between them, I think it would be the darker cover with the salt cascading down into the ghostly blue/green essence. I think the byline on this book is what makes me favour it slightly more over the other one too!
I was lucky enough to read a sampler of this book and lets just say a taster was not enough (pardon the pun). I do find the afterlife and all the different ways we can communicate with those there a fascinating subject. After discovering Kostya’s gift was “clairgustance” (which I had never heard of before) I was totally intrigued and knew I needed to read this book to learn more and discover Kostya’s story.
We initially meet the main character, Konstantin Duchovny or Kostya as his friends later call him. Kostya deeply regrets the last angry words he had with his father who was rushing to get to work and ended up being involved in an accident and was killed. Kostya has never forgiven himself for those last angry words and always yearned for a chance to apologise to his father. Sadly, after the death of Kostya’s father, his mother is consumed by the loss & grief and pays very little attention to an increasingly lonely young son, who already feels isolated due to being in a country with a language and customs still foreign to him.
When a game he used to play with his father suddenly evolves and reappears back in his life, he isn't sure what to think. He can suddenly taste emotions and a food/meal without ever having eaten it. It makes him feel closer to his father again so of course he embraces it. It takes away some of the feelings of loneliness he is having and reminds him of the happy memories he had with his father. He tries to explain it to his mother, wanting and expecting reassurance and loving understanding from her. Instead, he is taken to doctors who poke, prod, and medicate him, and send him to an institution for more poking and prodding. When Kostya cannot stand it any longer, he simply agrees with those thinking he made it all up for attention and is finally sent back home to live out an increasingly lonely existence still yearning for attention from his mother and a way to make peace with his last angry words with his father.
As Kostya grows up he continues having these “tastes” they are clearly here to stay and not something he is making up. Kostya experiments with the encouragement of his best friend and flatmate Frankie. Kostya’s “talent” is however hit and miss it does not always work for everyone that seeks the type of closure it offers. Kostya later realises that both sides need to want to meet for the aftertaste experience to work. Despite being warned off by tarot card reader Madame Everleigh aka Maura, who is someone with her own secrets, Kostya continues his experimentation with communicating with those in the afterlife via food/tastes.
Kostya has some interesting instances of communicating via tastes initially in a bar he is working in when he connects a Steve Tyler look-a-like to a woman in his past, to when he connects two nuns in his own small kitchen in the flat, he shares with Frankie who is himself a talented chef at a local restaurant called Wolfpup. Unfortunately, there’s a fire at Wolfpup and Frankie is killed. Once again, Kostya is experiencing grief, this time of a close friend whom had become like family to him.
Its then that Madame Everleigh/Maura comes back into his life and shares her own secrets and her grief for her sister Everleigh. Basically, they support each other, they become each others world really, each encouraging the other to continue to live and not dwell on the past so much.
Just when Kostya is about to give up on his dream of a restaurant where he could serve closure as well as amazing tasting food, an unexpected offer arrives from Viktor Musizchka. Viktor will provide the premises, with a kitchen fitted out to Kostya’s specifications, Kostya can also choose his own kitchen team. Once again, Kostya ignores advice, this time it’s his mother who tells Kostya that Viktor Musizchka is in the mob and a dangerous man.
Kostya recreates a last taste/last conversation for Maura and her sister Everleigh though Maura insists on being alone for the experience and refuses to talk about it afterwards with Kostya. It turns out that Madame Everleigh/Maura’s warning that there is always a price to be paid for connecting to the other side is correct. Despite Maura & Kostya trying to put things right on one side of the afterlife and Everleigh & Frankie trying on the afterlife side when nothing they do works and the ultimate price has to be paid Kostya bravely accepts his fate.
I loved Kostya’s character it was such a shame his own mother wasn’t able to put her own grief aside to listen to her own son and maybe somehow help him nurture his talent. Kostya certainly had his heart in the right place, even when he had the restaurant, he insisted in doing meals and chances at a meal/ conversation with a loved one for those who could not afford the eye watering prices Viktor wanted to charge everyone. What started out as a need to reconnect this dead father has grown into a career, a very lucrative business according to Viktor, though Kostya still concentrates on helping others reconnect to dead friends & family. Enabling closure for those here & in the afterlife.
I had mixed feeling about Maura, you’ll understand why when you read the book. I was interested in her as a tarot reader and why she became Madame Everleigh but when she makes her confession to Kostya I kind of lost respect for her. Then again, I still couldn’t help liking her.
The book really takes you on wave of different emotions, there is humour, but it does deal with grief and what entails, what it feels like for different people. It really deals with grief well, openly and honestly. I it was the serious subject matter that made me seem to read at a slower pace than usual. I kind of read a bit, thought about it, then read more. It’s the type of book that really makes you think.
The descriptions in the book are brilliant, I loved the comparison of something being “like carving a roast.” I have to admit I wasn’t initially keen on the famous Steven Tyler reference with Charlie, I don't think it was really needed though I guess having his first aftertaste with a famous person look-a-like added more interest and imagery. There’s lots of foods, herbs, and ingredients mentioned that I felt went totally over my head, though “foodies” will probably recognise them and see more relevance than I did. Having said that, I did still enjoy reading the detailed descriptions of the different tastes Kostya was getting, the way he detailed the flavours, different foods/ingredients and the seasonings. It made me feel a little guilty not being able to fully appreciate those descriptions and how Kostya pulled the meal together to recreate not just a meal but that persons specific tast and experience of that meal that they had previously eaten with their loved one.
My immediate thoughts upon finishing the book were that it was interesting, intriguing, had a captivating plot, great world building & characters you grew to love. It was a shame there was no “riding off into the sunset” for Kostya and Maura.
Summing up, I was intrigued and loved the clairgustance aspect and really enjoyed reading those sections. I have mixed feelings & emotions about the ending, though when you think a little & have time to 'digest' the book, the ending was quite fitting & poignant. This book was definitely captivating and deeply emotional......depending on your beliefs, very emotive. I know for sure that I would have been extremely tempted by an offer from Kostya for one last meal/conversation with my parents.
The other version of the book cover
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