Genre: Historical
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Tony
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About The Book
Step into the sumptuous world of Hartridge & Casas, the Edwardian shopping palace, in this exciting new series. Every department serves its customers luxury, and, behind the scenes, serves its employees romance and intrigue.
After training under the famed Escoffier, Henri is now Head Chef at the Royal Tea Room – the jewel in the crown of the newly opened Hartridge & Casas department store. With his sights set on one day opening his own restaurant, Henri has no time for distractions, especially not love. But his moorings are shaken loose when Nico, a charming and gorgeous new waiter, appears.
However, the interfering adventurer Lord Ockley is determined to have Nico all to himself. When he can’t, he threatens to expose Nico and Henri’s relationship, risking not only the destruction of their careers and reputations, but possibly even worse.
Will Henri abandon his career dreams for the love of the only man who has ever touched his soul? Can Nico convince Henri that love is the most important dream of all?
The Review
Catering to Love is set in London during the Olympics of 1908. It mainly takes place in a department store called Hartridge and Casas.
Henri Newbold is the prim and proper head chef in charge of the kitchen attached to the tea room. The kitchen also supplies the food hall with delicious pastries. Each of those sections have their own manager, but Henri is where the buck stops if something goes wrong on the culinary front. He’s made this his life and, even though he is in his early thirties, it’s the only thing that’s important to him. He would love to open his own restaurant, but it’s probably no more than a pipe dream.
His life is about to be turned upside down by the entrance of two very different characters into his life – Nikolaos Kavafis (Nico) and Lord Ockley. Henri can’t keep his eyes off Nico, but where Ockley is concerned, the less seen the better.
This is ultimately a love story’ but it’s also much more, a documentation of the nineteen hundreds in terms of class differences, women’s place in society, racial discrimination, and the criminalisation of homosexuality. Sounds like a bundle of fun, right?
It is, most of the time. I was angry for some of the characters and at some of the others for their behaviour.
Some of the character interactions are amusing or laugh-out-loud funny. Some are a guilty pleasure and very telling – particularly when it comes to Lady Covington. There are lovely friendships depicted here too, and Lord Ockley is a bit of a cartoon villain, but beyond sinister at the same time.
This is a really fun and moving book. It may try just a little too hard at times to paint a clear picture of early twenty century life, but it was a treasure, and a pleasure to read.
The Reviewer
Tony is an Englishman living amongst the Welsh and the Other Folk in the mountains of Wales. He lives with his partner of thirty-six years, four dogs, two ponies, various birds, and his bees. He is a retired lecturer and a writer of no renown but that doesn’t stop him enjoying what he used to think of as ‘sensible’ fantasy and sf. He’s surprised to find that if the story is well written and has likeable characters undergoing the trails of life, i.e. falling in love, falling out of love, having a bit of nooky (but not all the time), fending off foes, aliens and monsters, etc., he’ll be happy as a sandperson who has just offloaded a wagon of sand at the going market price. As long as there’s a story, he’s in. He aims to write fair and honest reviews. If he finds he is not the target reader he’ll move on.
