"I started reading this galley without knowing a thing about the book and what an incredible surprise it ended up being. In a dystopian world shrouded in smog, a chef travels to a mountain in Italy where a billionaire and his daughter are trying to create a utopia away from the squalor of the world, but only for those who can buy their way in. The chef is tasked with cooking meals to woo the wealthy people living in the community, to get them to contribute more of their money to the project. After years of cooking with scarce ingredients, she has lost her palate. But during her time in this utopia, that is not at all a utopia, she slowly finds her sense of taste as she learns why she has really been brought to the mountain. The way Zhang writes about food and desire and human failings is exquisite—sensually detailed, at times visceral. This is a tremendous novel that explores the way people will break when the world itself is broken. Land of Milk and Honey is truly exceptional. "