Sweetbitter

A Novel

By: Stephanie Danler

Narrated by: Alex McKenna

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A thrilling novel of the senses and a coming-of-age tale, following a small-town girl into the electrifying world of New York City and the education of a lifetime at one of the most exclusive restaurants in Manhattan. Perfect for readers of Kitchen Confidential and Blood, Bones and Butter.

Twenty-two, and knowing no one, Tess leaves home to begin her adult life in New York City. Thus begins a year that is both enchanting and punishing, in a low-level job at “the best restaurant in New York City.” Grueling hours and a steep culinary learning curve awaken her to the beauty of oysters, the finest Champagnes, the appellations of Burgundy. At the same time, she opens herself to friendships—and love—set against the backdrop of dive bars and late nights. As her appetites sharpen—for food and wine, but also for knowledge, experience, and belonging—Tess is drawn into a darkly alluring love triangle that will prove to be her most exhilarating and painful lesson of all.

Stephanie Danler deftly conjures the nonstop and purely adrenalized world of the restaurant—conversations interrupted, phrases overheard, and suggestions below the surface. Evoking the infinite possibility of being young in New York with heart-stopping accuracy, Sweetbitter is ultimately about the power of what remains after disillusionment, and the wisdom that comes from experience, sweet and bitter.

Critic reviews

“Brilliantly written… Sweetbitter is the Kitchen Confidential of our time.”
—Gabrielle Hamilton, author of Blood, Bones & Butter and Prune, New York Times Book Review

“Danler’s sexy, astute debut is really a love story about the addictive pull of restaurant life… Anyone who’s ever tied on an apron will think, “Finally, someone wrote a book about us.” And nailed it.”
—People (book of the week)

“An unpretentious, truth-dealing novel… about hunger of every variety. Ms. Danler is a sensitive observer… and gifted commenter on many things. Sweetbitter is going to make a lot of people hungry.”
—Dwight Garner, New York Times

“… perfectly captures the raw possibility of a young woman’s first year in New York, opening up to a whole new world of wine, food, love and heartbreak.”
—Mackenzie Dawson, New York Post

"...a raw, shucked, pungent, wild love story."
—Marie Claire

"Danler... quickly draws you into the sparkling surfaces and the shadowy underbelly of the city... [Tess's] insatiable hunger for tactile, sensual satisfaction dares you to tag along. The journey is high-minded and dirty, beastly and bountiful."
—Elle

“Danler’s ravishing debut is like inhabiting the heady after-midnight hours of a city drunk on its own charms… [her] descriptions of food and drink go beyond mouth-watering, verging on orgasmic… a first novel [that] tantalizes, seduces, satisfies.”
—Leigh Haber, O Magazine

anticlimactic

I first knew about this book through the Starz series. The series was disappointingly canceled as it has become the norm to leave the audience hanging. I listened to the book in hopes of finding out what happened. The book did provide it, but it was very anticlimactic.

Good portrait of a restaurant

As a former NYC I loved listening to all the inside jokes and restaurant language. Really beautiful, honest and dirty portrait of a Manhattan restaurant. Thought the narrator made the main character seem a little aloof and annoying.

Well written, no holding back!

Ms. Danler's story is a gritty, funny, and intensely personal story that any young woman in the restaurant business may relate to. Her descriptions, observations, and emotions were sometimes very explicit, but well stated. I enjoyed this book very much!

Gritty and beautiful

A wonderfully written (and performed) story of a young woman in New York. Vivid, gritty, honest, and beautiful.

very entertaining!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Sweetbitter?

The interesting way it was written- you are always surprised in what comes next.