The Taste of Longing
Ethel Mulvany and her Starving Prisoners of War Cookbook
by Suzanne Evans
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Pub Date Sep 21 2020 | Archive Date Sep 20 2020
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Description
Half a world away from her home in Manitoulin Island, Ethel Mulvany is starving in Singapore’s infamous Changi Prison, along with hundreds of other women jailed there as POWs during the Second World War. They beat back pangs of hunger by playing decadent games of make-believe and writing down recipes filled with cream, raisins, chocolate, butter, cinnamon, ripe fruit—the unattainable ingredients of peacetime, of home, of memory.
In this novelistic, immersive biography, Suzanne Evans presents a truly individual account of WWII through the eyes of Ethel—mercurial, enterprising, combative, stubborn, and wholly herself. The Taste of Longing follows Ethel through the fall of Singapore in 1942, the years of her internment, and beyond. As a prisoner, she devours dog biscuits and book spines, befriends spiders and smugglers, and endures torture and solitary confinement. As a free woman back in Canada, she fights to build a life for herself in the midst of trauma and burgeoning mental illness.
Woven with vintage recipes and transcribed tape recordings, the story of Ethel and her fantastical POW Cookbook is a testament to the often-overlooked strength of women in wartime. It’s a story of the unbreakable power of imagination, generosity, and pure heart.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781771134897 |
| PRICE | CA$29.95 (CAD) |
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Featured Reviews
Marta C, Reviewer
The Taste of Longing is the novelistic biography of the remarkable, enterprising Ethel Mulvany, a Canadian woman who spent years as a POW in Singapore’s infamous Changi Prison during WWII.
As the food rations became smaller, Ethel and other prisoners began playing games of make-believe in which they planned entire meals to the smallest detail. These games and memories of better times gave them hope, and while the food was unattainable at the time, the imagined feasts reminded them of home.
Ethel eventually started writing down recipes from fellow prisoners, and years after getting back her freedom, she turned them into a POW Cookbook as a testament to their experiences.
This biography is about Ethel, the woman, but it's also about how mental illnesses were often ignored and overlooked at the time. Ethel suffered from bipolar disorder, and naturally her mental state deteriorated as she navigated life in wartime and in prison. But even as she coped with her illness, Ethel found ways to improve the lives of everyone around her by organizing charities, helping Japanese immigrants reunite with their families, and donating most of what she had to the people who needed it the most.
This isn't a light read, but Suzanne Evans still managed to turn it into an uplifting, if sad, story. It's a book about courage, resourcefulness, and resilience from a woman who fought for others until her last breath. It's also a story about the often-overlooked experiences of women during wartime, how they survived through their own means, and a testament to the ways in which food can bring people together - even when it's just imagined.
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