Test Kitchen

Test Kitchen is phenomenal - a mad, magical, ten-course feast of a novel, gorgeously written, totally original, packed with ideas and invention. Incredibly ambitious too - so many characters, so many stories, all of it choreographed so expertly. I have no idea how Neil Stewart did it, even after reading it twice. It deserves to be a massive success. Three Michelin stars – Paul Murray, author of The Bee StingTest Kitchen is like A Visit from the Goon Squad meets The Menu and I’m loving it! – Alice Slater, author of Death of a BooksellerTest Kitchen is an amazing novel that hovers somewhere between the fantastical and gritty reality. Veering from humorous to horrifying, it shows real insight into the mildly unhinged nature of both high-end restaurants and their diners - with wit, lyricism and a killer turn of phrase – Marina O’LoughlinTest Kitchen vibrates with the tension of a high-end restaurant and the convergence of many seething, heartbreaking, fascinating past lives. But it vibrates with something more ineffable too - something extraordinary, and new. I did not want this book to end. And when it did, I was bereft – Lara Haworth, author of MonumentaA gorgeous tasting menu of a novel, a glittering mystery as sharp as a paring knife and as artfully constructed as its fictional restaurant. Like the best fine dining experience, Test Kitchen is beautiful, satisfying and ultimately surprising – Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining GirlsIf you have binged The Bear and want the literary equivalent, we have the book for you … Stewart’s vivid descriptions and sharp prose bring this story to life, with many twists and a dark humorous look at the culture of food, mortality wrapped in a mystery * Glamour ‘Best Books of July’ *

Neil Stewart was born in Glasgow in 1978. He was educated at the University of Glasgow and holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. His first novel The Glasgow Coma Scale (Corsair) was published in 2014. He currently freelances as a proofreader and editorial assistant for galleries and museums, and is Arts Editor of the online magazine Civilian. He lives in London.