Elza's Kitchen

From the author of Valeria's Last Stand, a charming fable of mid-life, of passion and purpose lost and found in a restaurant kitchen.

For years, Elza has gotten by. A divorcee out of culinary school, she started her own little restaurant in the mid-size Hungarian city of Delibab, and she's grown a decent business, cooking quality versions of Hungarian classics and serving them with a smile. But lately her smile has gotten tired. Her loveless affair with her sous-chef has become an irritation. She's getting sick of the same old dishes and the same old customers. And in these nascent years of capitalism, it will take some competition-both personal and professional-to make her see that her restaurant, and her happiness, are worth fighting for.

Marc Fitten fell in love with Hungary after years spent living there, and his second novel is a celebration of its culture and cuisine, as well as a portrait of a woman and her country in transition.

Marc Fitten was born in Brooklyn and lived in Hungary from 1993-1998. He is the former editor of the Chattahoochee Review and of the Red Hen Press Literary Translation series. Marc Fitten's first novel, Valeria's Last Stand, was published in six countries. He lives in Atlanta.