Overview

What if you could have one last meal with someone you've loved, someone you've lost? Combining the magic of Under the Whispering Door with the high-stakes culinary world of Sweetbitter, Aftertaste is an epic love story, a dark comedy, and a synesthetic adventure through food and grief.Konstantin ""Kostya"" Duhhovny is a haunted man. When he was a child, his beloved father died shortly after their family immigrated to Brooklyn from Ukraine, and ghosts have been hovering around Kostya ever since. Kostya can't exactly see the ghosts, but he can taste their favorite foods. Flavors of meals he's never eaten will flood his mouth, a sign that a spirit is present. Kostya has kept these aftertastes a secret for most of his life, but one night, he decides to act on what he's tasting. And everything changes. Kostya discovers that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones--at least for the length of time it takes for them to eat a meal he prepares for them. He realizes that perhaps his life purpose is offering closure to grieving strangers--and that he might finally be able to find closure himself. Kostya sets out to learn everything he can by entering a particularly fiery ring of Hell: the New York culinary scene. As his kitchen skills begin to catch up with his ambitions, Kostya is too blind to see the catastrophe that looms. And the one person who knows Kostya must be stopped happens to be falling in love with him. Set in the bustling world of New York restaurants and teeming with mouthwatering food writing, Aftertaste is a whirlwind romance, a heart-wrenching look at love and loss, and a ghost story about all the ways we hunger--and how far we'd go to find satisfaction. Lavelle's debut is a multicourse tasting menu of a book that will sate, delight, excite, comfort, and inspire even the pickiest of readers.

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9781668110386

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""Ari Fliakos's exceptional performance of haunted Kostya Duhovny is among the many pleasures of this immersive debut...Fliakos is ably aided by Tessa Albertson, André Santana, and Kristen Sieh, who all do fine work. But it's Fliakos's tour-de-force narration that elevates this listening experience. In one extraordinary moment Fliakos does a breathless dramatic monologue that merges foods and flavors while ghosts hover and howl...Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."" -- ""AudioFile""

Author Information

Daria Lavelle is an American fiction writer. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and raised in the New York metro area, her work explores themes of identity and belonging through magic and the uncanny. Her short stories have appeared in The Deadlands, Dread Machine, and elsewhere, and she holds degrees in writing from Princeton University and Sarah Lawrence College. Learn more at DariaLavelle.com. Ari Fliakos is an actor with experience in television, radio, film, theater, and voiceovers. His narration of Seth Patrick's Reviver won an Audie for paranormal fiction. He has narrated Black Site and Tier One Wild by Dalton Fury, as well as Gangster Squad, The Inquisitor, and Shotgun Lovesongs. On screen, he is best-known for his roles in Law & Order, Pills, and Company K. André Santana is a NYC-based audiobook narrator on a journey to tell great stories. He's a Black, Latin, and non-binary voice actor delivering intentional and human performances. Operating with a keen sense for realistic delivery, he inevitably becomes a fan of every book he narrates and shares that joy through his performances. Kristen Sieh is a founding member of New York based theater company The TEAM. She has performed at theaters all around the world and in theater festivals throughout Europe and Asia. Her television credits include Boardwalk Empire and Law & Order.

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