Piglet introduced us to a character trying to find her place in society after her plans for the future begin to unravel. Hazel obscured the main scandal, placing the focus solely on Piglet so the audience wouldn't bring their own judgments to the table. I thought this was an interesting narrative choice, but I could see how some readers might be frustrated or want more detail. I do think it worked because it connected to what Hazel was trying to do: giving her main character the opportunity to decide what she wanted outside of societal expectations or others' preconceptions. I was surprised by the level of suspense Hazel created---my heart was racing when she was making that final dessert---and I was completely captivated by the descriptions of food. Overall, well-written and engrossing.

What a beautiful books. Don't let the title sway you, it's intriguing, stirs up so many emotions, and was a book I could not stop reading.
When you lose the future you'd hoped. How do you start again? Lovely book.
Thank you to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Compelling and unputdownable. I wasn’t sure I would like this book, but I ended up reading it in a day. And I kept thinking about it for a while after. This is a study on desires and motivations and the choices we make, and the courage it takes to begin again. Beautiful.

The balance of what we want vs what we think we want is the push and pull that seems to guide Piglet as she navigates her relationships with both people and food.

Piglet is a story about a relatively calm and collected woman becoming unhinged.

She is in her mid-30’s, is a successful cookbook editor, and has an uninhabited passion for cooking and food. She was given this nickname from her family to explain her excess as a child, and unfortunately for her, it remains as she is an adult. The author creates a story around Piglet (versus her real name and identity) and plays on her insecurities and self-proclaimed deficiencies as this character.

While she anxiously contemplates her existence, her life is full. She has an affectionate family, loyal friends, and a loving fiancé. One day, he interrupts their routines with a revelation about his infidelity. Piglet deals with this betrayal by quietly moving on with their lives, which slowly starts to unravel as she becomes more on edge with the wedding.

I am loving these types of stories where seemingly normal people become unhinged after being tested, and this one is no different. Piglet has done everything right, including staying in control of her emotions. She can no longer compose herself the more stressed she becomes. She is ashamed as her real self is revealed to the world, yet she can’t help becoming undone. It speaks to those who feel superfluous and have immense feelings of taking up too much space in this world.

The uniqueness of the story lies in the Piglet’s moments of peace and calm while cooking, Hazell’s scrumptious food description that dances on each page, and Piglet writing her own ending. It’s tragic, it’s hilarious, and it’ll be the best wedding you attend this year.

such a strong and interesting debut! this book was clever, suspenseful, and also made my mouth water. i was so stressed throughout so much of the book, especially in the chapters building up like an unsettling crescendo to the wedding. hazell writes piglet in a way that feels like a close and personal connection is being forged with the reader.

There's a love/hate going on with this book. I thought this had such an interesting premise. The beginning was going so well. However, I'm not a fan of the ending. I know the way the book ended made the story better, but I need some answers. The dialogue was so clever. The character development with our main character is a chief kiss. The details of the food were so well written, it made me hungry. Lastly, my biggest question is what did Kit do?? This was a really thought out debut novel.

“Such a special day.”

Piglet is an offbeat novel that marks the debut of author Lottie Hazell. The protagonist is a young woman named Pippa, but everyone calls her Piglet. This author has me before I open the book, because with a nickname like this, I have to see what’s behind it, and where it’s going. My thanks go to NetGalley and Henry Holt for the review copy; this book is available to the public now.

Piglet lives in London, far from the working class area where she was raised, and where the rest of her family still resides. She’s a cookbook editor for a publishing company, is engaged to marry Kit, who is handsome and comes from a well to do family, and they have recently purchased a gorgeous home. Her star is clearly rising.

It’s a tightrope walk, to be certain. People with money have expectations, and so it’s not easy for Piglet to advocate for herself in the presence of his family. But she genuinely likes them, and so she works with them—which generally means that they get their way. Her own family mildly embarrass her when the two families meet, but her folks won’t often cross paths with these people once she and Kit are wed.
Then, two weeks before the wedding, Kit confesses a terrible, terrible betrayal, and Piglet has to decide whether she is in or out. As she unravels, I watch in horror. Piglet, you see, is an emotional eater.

In many ways, Piglet is the protagonist I have been wanting to read all my life. So often female main characters respond to stress by not eating. The lesser characters around them cluck over how pale, how thin they’ve become, and I sit back on my ample behind and say, “Yeah, right.”

But Piglet’s stress eating is epic in scope, and I also worry that the resolution will involve therapy, a new diet and a wedding gown in a size smaller than anything she’s ever owned. And since this much comes from my own imaginings rather than the book, I’ll go ahead and tell you, no. That doesn’t happen, and I am so grateful.

For most of this novel, I feel an intimacy with the protagonist that is rare. I can’t wait to find out what happens next, but I also can’t tolerate interruptions, and so I choose my reading sessions carefully. I am fortunate enough to receive both the digital review copy and the audio galley, and at the outset, I do what is my usual routine in such circumstances, listening to it while I am doing something else, but with the DRC nearby so that I can make notes or highlight likely passages for quotes. But by the time I am about thirty percent in, that’s over, and instead I am listening while reading also, because how can I think of anything else?

There are two things that I am dying to know. First, does she stay with Kit? And more importantly, what terrible thing did he do? Piglet keeps this information close to her vest, but the few people she tells are uniformly horrified, and so I know it’s bad. But what is it? Just what the hell did he do?

The ending feels incomplete to me. There are so many things that Hazell could have done and didn’t that I am disappointed by what feels like a slightly bland resolution. This is a good book, but it could have been a great one.

Hazell’s word smithery skills are stellar, and when I was done, I found I’d highlighted over 150 passages. Obviously, I won’t use them all here. Most of the novel’s tone is quite serious, but there are a few moments of dark humor that leave me shaking my head in admiration. In particular, there’s a wedding photographer that makes me howl!

The narrator is outstanding.

One way or another, Lottie Hazell is an author to watch. I look forward to seeing what she produces next.

Piglet! My latest read. This is Lottie Hazell's debut novel and I loved the writing - it's so good! I also really appreciated her take on women's desire and the ways we so often deny ourselves. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt for the ARC!

Really enjoyed this one -- what a strong debut! The food writing in this book is sublime, probably the best description of food, eating and cooking that I've read in a fiction book maybe ever. No wonder it's the topic of Hazel's PhD thesis!
Piglet is a story of a young woman who builds her life around the needs and expectations of others. I found myself rooting for Piglet the entire time, and even though sometimes her choices frustrated me, I also kept finding myself reflected in Piglet over and over again.
This wasn't a 5-star read for me because I thought that something was missing. The pacing was slightly off though I don't necessarily think that the books needed to be shorter. I can't quite put my finger on it but I didn't think that Hazel quite 'landed the plane' either, again something about the ending felt off. With a stronger ending this would have been an easy 5 stars. I would definitely read Hazel's next book!

Thank you to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for the ARC!

I requested to read “Piglet” because the premise sounded intriguing. I struggled with name-calling and weight issues from a young age and though I am in a wonderful relationship with my significant other, I can only imagine the shock of discovering a betrayal from the man I have pledged to spend my life with.

Do not be hungry while reading this book because the author’s descriptions of food will make your mouth water. I also can sympathize with the plight of having the rug pulled out from under you a few short days before your wedding. The author does an awesome job of really putting you into the moment. Hence, I should have liked this story a lot more than I did, but I had a hard time putting myself into the narrator’s state of mind. But simply because I didn’t like her narration didn’t mean this was not an evocative read.

Three and a half stars.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Net Galley for this memorable tale.

I loved this book! It’s all about expectations for the perfect life, disappointment, class and hunger.
The dialogue is clever and smart and the book also has the best wedding meltdown ever.

3.5/5 stars rounded up to 4
The main character, who we only know by her childhood name, "Piglet", seems to have it all. A good job, her fiance Kit with a well-to-do family, a new apartment to host their friends and whip up meals, and a wedding just around the corner. Piglet's life is packaged up prettily until she receives a startling confession from Kit a few weeks before their wedding.
They decide to go through with it, and both her appetite and sense of control spiral. Some passages were so incredulous and train wreck-like, I hoped they weren't real.
Everything we learn about this story, we learn from Piglet's perceptions. Appearances matter more than anything to her, and we see this facade breaking down the closer we get to the wedding. Initially I found Piglet insufferable. Her attention to other people's bodies and criticism of her family's lack of sophistication made her so unlikeable to me. By the end of the book, I could sympathize with this character who seemed to be struggling greatly with self worth but has ambition and just wants to fit in.
While this isn't a book about an eating disorder, some descriptions of bodies and binge eating may be triggering for those struggling with their relationships to food and body dysmorphia.

I have so much to say about this extraordinary debut. Every sentence was magnificently crafted, every word perfectly chosen.

Our main character, Piglet, a food-obsessed cookbook editor, has assembled the perfect life...or has she? Two weeks before her wedding, a shocking new piece of information threatens to destroy what she's set up for herself. Each chapter leading up to her wedding was so tense, so suspenseful, but I was rapt--I could not put this book down. The way that every cooking scene was written was not only mouth-watering but also meaningful, as food and hunger function as a metaphor for female desire/ambition/rage throughout the novel. If bloggers could describe their dishes like Hazell, I would never click "Jump to Recipe" again...and let's talk for a minute about the croquembouche scene. Oh. My. Goodness. It was nearly as anxiety-inducing as an episode of The Bear, yet I wouldn't have changed a thing.

To me, this story is about discerning between what we think we want and what we truly desire. After reading Piglet I am left wondering: what am I truly hungry for, and what might I need to sacrifice to find it on my plate?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Do you want to read a litfic novel about a doomed relationship that’s chock full of social class commentary and living for appearances, rather than actually living? She’s got some big Capricorn energy. Do you want to read some food porn coupled with wildly disordered eating?

Pre-reading:
Cover porn.

Thick of it:
irascible

pecorino

Delicious. Food porn already

roulade

I dream of hosting dinner parties with a partner.

Why is it not a compliment? Am I dumb? I don’t watch Bake Off. Is it because they’re amateur chefs and that would be calling her an amateur?

Oh no. They’re gonna have an affair, aren’t they?

The writing reminds me of Normal Women and Night Bitch with its romanticization of feminine rage and unequal labor.

posseting

The audiobook doesn’t match the Kindle edition, and it’s annoying me.

I feel like Piglet has the Capricorn/ Patrick Bateman fixation on appearances, and I really fuck with it.

Good god, I relate so much haha. The embarrassment of being poor.

Maldon salt makes all the difference!

It’s so well done. Just the fixation on food and the eating disorder and where it’s come from

Oh, and she’s got her read receipts on. Cap AF. I fucking I love this bitch.

The day before Halloween is a bad day for a wedding.

Big Swiss and Social Engagement vibes

This book is fabulous. High four so far. Might even slip to five. I need more bite for five though.

This book makes me HUNGRY and that just makes me think of that quote from Ninth House that I like so much. I respect hunger.

Florid

Oh and the patent Capricorn avoidance.

Abattoir

What would be worse? It’s other people knowing, and I know I’m absolutely fucked for that, but it’s always other people knowing.

craquelin

I’m not sure what it is with litfic and eroticizing eggs this year, but it’s really working for me.

Oh god, what a letdown. Fuck her dad.

God, don’t marry him.

I’m not a pastry chef, but wouldn’t you wanna remove the cones once they’re at the wedding venue?

They have so much money, but they have IKEA furniture?

Ugh, why would you say that????

Oh, don’t destroy the cake on the ride over. You worked so hard.

Franny is being lovely to her on her day.

cassoulet

Call me a snob, but a wedding stew is not cute.

God, I hope we find out the specifics of what he did.

I’m not loving this ending.

I think I’m cursed with endings lately.

This is half a book. This was all part one.

Post-reading:
Man, if ever there was a case for half-star ratings this is the book for it.

The food writing is phenomenal. It’s evocative. It’s a little grotesque. It teeters on erotic. It’s lush. It’s femme. It’s angry.

And then it goes fucking nowhere. We open the book knowing the relationship has to end, and that’s the book’s ultimate conclusion. It’s so deeply dissatisfying. If I can open the book, read chapter 1, and be like break up, your ending needs to do something more than that.

I think it’s a lovely character study. They’re such deeply flawed and realistic and familiar characters. But I’m at the point in my life where, like the main character, I can also recognize the problematic behaviors in the people around me and understand how they’re contributing to my personal brain goblins. I’m kinda like what’s next? Where do we go from the self-awareness? And the book doesn’t have an answer for that either. There’s no this is how you start to undo your childhood trauma. There’s no this is how to want things for yourself rather than just wanting the things you’ve been told to want. And the book doesn’t feel like our main character is coming to some great epiphany. Instead, the whole book just feels like one big exercise in burnout. Which would be great if there was a part two or a point to it. Unfortunately, the book is almost just a rumination on it, and I need more from a book.

The writing in this is better than my typical three stars. The writing is so good. You should pick this up. The ending is just so deeply unsatisfying to me that I have to give it three stars. Not to steal the book’s metaphors but you gave me all these ingredients for a good story, you started cooking with them, and then you turned off the heat before it could come to a boil. And now I’m just sitting here like bitch, I’m still hungry.

Also, call me nosy, but I wanted to know explicitly what that man did. What’s the depth of his offense? And I understand the reason for not including it because it does stop any criticism of she’s overreacting or that’s something you can work through. I understand that not everyone’s a Capricorn willing to cut people off the second they wrong them. But I’m just like any offense is too much for a life partner, so I wanted to know what it was.

And then, one other thing working against this book is the fact that I’ve read The Freedom Clause which is a very similar book in that it’s a character study about a food writer and extramarital affairs and class commentary and a family drama. I preferred the darker writing of this book because I am an angry, sad girl at my core, but I had a better time with and a better overall story arc from Freedom.

I don’t know, I really liked this. I will definitely be recommending it to people. I will be buying it for my shelf, but fucking give me more.

This book eats, but I’m still hungry goddamnit.

Who should read this:
Food porn aficionados
Angry sad girls
Character study fans

Do I want to reread this:
Kinda. I don’t know the ending really irritated me.

Similar books:
* The Freedom Clause by Hannah Sloane-the rom-com version of this book, affairs, family drama, food porn
* Social Engagement by Avery Carpenter Forrey-affairs, class commentary, family drama, character study
* Normal Women by Ainslie Hogarth-mommy horror, feminine rage, unhinged women
* Night Bitch by Rebecca Yoder-mommy horror, feminine rage, unhinged women
* Big Swiss by Jen Beagin-affairs, angry sad girl book, unhinged women
* Fireworks Every Night by Beth Raymer-class commentary, family drama, character study
* Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney-affairs destroying marriages and friendships, social commentary
* We Are Too Many by Hannah Pittard-affairs, character study
* Sam by Allegra Goodman-angry sad girl book, character study, family drama
* My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh-OG angry sad girl book
* Corinne by Rebecca Morrow-angry sad girl book but make it a romance
* I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins-girlypop intentionally blows up her life, family drama
* Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood-affairs, character study, family drama
* The Lifestyle by Taylor Hahn-affairs, girlypop realizes she settled in her relationship
* Vladimir by Julia May Jonas-affairs, social commentary, family drama
* Maeve Fly by C. J. Leede-hear me out, they’re nothing alike, but also big Capricorn energy

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.... and hated it at the same time. I kept waiting. And waiting. And waiting to find out....and then nothing.

But I think that’s what makes it so incredible. Well done.

A delicious debut! Both the US (a towering burger) and UK (towering frosted donuts) covers are brilliant and set the tone for the book. Piglet is a childhood nickname that followed the main character into adulthood because of her appetite and love for food. She works as a cookbook editor and cooks from her authors' elaborate recipes every day for herself, her fiancé, Kit, and whenever they can host friends or family in their new house in Oxford. Her relationship with Kit, an only child from a wealthy, established Oxford family, has helped propel her away from her hometown and lower class family back in Denby. Her weekly personal trainer sessions and spa days with her future mother-in-law who is paying for their posh wedding make Piglet both excited about her future life but still like a bit of an outsider. When Kit delivers news to her that could shatter the life that she's carefully built, Piglet reels while deciding what to do.

The writing is visceral and uses a close almost uncomfortable POV. The food descriptions and writing are great! Not only does Hazell do a good job making your mouth water as the food comes together, but she paints a picture of how Piglet feels while she's cooking. There are moments where Piglet becomes a slightly unreliable narrator with a few alternate reality moments that give the book an eerie feeling which works well with the tension from the wedding countdown. The tightly wound life Piglet has designed for herself slowly starts to unspool and the structure and pacing keep the pages turning as it does.

The big secret that Kit reveals to Piglet (not to the reader) worked as a plot focal point to a degree but then I feel like it was relied on too heavily. The background and foundation of their relationship was underdeveloped and therefore the stakes didn't seem as high as they could've been when it all comes crashing down. Piglet's family members were well developed and interesting whereas Kit's family seemed overdone and stereotypical.

The setting of London and Oxford bumped this up to four stars for me. Hazell writes her way through London almost as well as she writes about food. I'm currently in a love affair with London so this was especially special to me.

I'm excited to read more of Hazell's work after this impressive debut. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars?

I can't be sure how I want to rate this because Piglet was such an emotional rollercoaster of a book. We follow a 30-something character who is referred to solely by her childhood nickname, a nickname meant to be derogatory to her person and paint her as a certain type of individual, based on actions she protectively made for her younger sister. She is living a seemingly perfect life and preparing for her wedding when, one night, about two weeks until the big day, her fiancé delivers terrible news. The unraveling of Piglet's carefully held together façade fuels this book in ways that, sometimes all at once, made me feel angry, embarrassed, apprehensive, tense, shocked, and even amused. We're reading about a character that is mostly unlikeable, but I found myself wondering how much of it was because that was who she was, or because of what other people almost forced her to become?

It's powerful in the ways that our main character is put into these boxes that she didn't choose, and the negative ways those that did put her there respond to her rebellion. And I think almost anyone can relate to her feelings of shame, anger, and resentment as she figures out how to break from these boxes. How to go against the expectations placed on her.

I also think it was genius how Hazell never tells us what the news is that her fiancé shares with her, and we as the readers get to interpret what it might be based on the ways the other characters react when they find out. At first, I thought it was sort of like a "fill in the blank for your worst fear" of what a partner you're about to marry tells you two weeks before your wedding. It's bad enough that you consider calling everything off, but not bad enough to call it off . . . but it makes you question whether or not you should up until the very moment. But then, the more I read and the more characters found out, weighing their reactions, it added more speculation. I think it was meant to give the reader more insight into their value systems more than anything else. What are they willing to tolerate or keep secret to maintain the façade? It's genius. And I think, especially with a group of people who enjoys a book a like this, the conversation could go on forever.

Lastly, the food writing in this is incredible. I love that the author has research focusing on food writing in 21st century fiction, and that she specifically wrote this book. It was so good. It will be a book I'll be thinking about for a long, long time. Thank you to Henry Holt & Co. and NetGalley for giving me advanced reader access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review. This title published February 27, 2024.

Through lavish descriptions of food, incisive commentary, and an increasingly spiraling protagonist, Piglet recounts the story of a young woman on track to have it all—a perfect marriage, a career promotion, and support from close friends. Her life is interrupted when her fiancé's reveals a long-held secret that threatens to ruin everything.

This book is absolutely perfect—I can't believe it's a debut. The language is so careful and well-crafted, I regularly had to put it down just to think through what I'd read. I'm so glad I picked it up—I'll be reading everything this author writes.

Piglet has my heart - I really felt for this MC!!

I really enjoyed this book - lots of incredibly yummy food descriptions and a very thoughtful study of peoples' complicated relationship dynamics with food: how sharing a meal together is both connecting, disconnecting, and (can be) deeply ritualistic.

Piglet's relationship with food has been completely fused with her identity since she was a young child by all of her loved ones. Through cooking and creating meals, Piglet developed a sort of spiritual revelry for food that became all-consuming and then a debilitating obsession in her life. I wanted to root for her throughout the book and for her to find satisfaction and happiness in her life, especially with her parents and siblings, and with Margot.

Of course, we all collectively eye-roll at Kit (WHAT DID HE DO!?! I WANT THE GOSSIP!!!!), who, although he seems loving and supportive on the page, leaves the reader, still, with uncertainty and a bad taste. Gross. Although we never know, I didn't feel empathy for him and his unsatisfactory ending.

I think a common critique of this book will be not developing that relationship and understanding with Kit more, and although the reader will be left *extremely* curious about it, it didn't detract from the story for me. I loved watching this little slice of life and getting to know Piglet, she was a real treasure, even in all of her wedding-day mess.

This sits at a solid 4 stars for me at this time.