Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q. Sutanto, 304 pages
At 63, Mebel has been a trophy wife to a successful Singaporean businessman her whole life. So when he leaves her for their much-younger private chef, Mebel's despondent and desperate to get him back so that she can continue living the life to which she's become accustomed. Best way to do that? Enroll in culinary school (the one closest to the Hermes store in Paris, of course) and learn to cook, which can't be that hard, right? Armed with Louis Vuitton trunks full of designer clothes and a bit of chutzpah, Mebel heads to Paris... only to learn that she's accidentally enrolled in the school's British campus, which is in a tiny village near Oxford.
This was a charming book full of humor, nuance, and great character development for Mebel. I loved her relationship with her fellow culinary students and the way she connected with them, despite differences in age, race, and skill. I also really appreciated the way Sutanto showed the relationship with Mebel's son and his family, and the way that gender roles expectations can be passed down generationally, just through observation. For such a funny book, this took on some fairly serious topics quite well. Highly recommended!
*This book will be published April 28, 2026.

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