The Delicacy

Adult brothers Rowan and Tulip live a sheltered life on their tiny Scottish isle alongside their witchy mother. Rowan loves farming, and Tulip (who prefers the name Danny) has a job cooking at the local inn, though both of them are ready to fly the coop. A lawyer informs the pair that their estranged aunt and uncle, presumed dead, have left them a house near London and a sizable inheritance. The siblings defy their mother’s wish and leave for the city, where all the food is “full of chemicals.” Rowan immediately gets to work on the land, and Danny finds a space for an organic restaurant named Tulip’s. However, the restaurant business is not an easy one, and Danny struggles to find traction. When some unexpected and marvelous mushrooms crop up on the land, they find a place on the menu and suddenly Tulip’s is the hot new thing. But predatory neighborhood protection comes calling, and between Danny’s growing ambition and Rowan’s inability to grow more mushrooms, desperate measures must be taken. Danny is driven mad by his goals, and Rowan doesn’t know how to stop him. The story barrels onward to its tragic end. The side characters in the industry add just the right balance to the dish. The lush illustrations serve the land and restaurant well and make this tale a page-turner. Both Rowan and Tulip are white.