Aftertaste, Daria Lavelle
Aftertaste, Daria Lavelle
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
Club: $12.99

Aftertaste

Author: Daria Lavelle

Narrator: Ari Fliakos, Tessa Albertson, André Santana, Kristen Sieh

Unabridged: 10 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/20/2025


Synopsis

“Dark and delicious, sincerely moving and at times laugh out loud funny, a heady, bittersweet, beautiful novel about life and death, grief and closure, passion and hunger. A must-read.” —RACHEL HARRISON, USA TODAY bestselling author of So Thirsty and Black Sheep

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.

Some hungers never fade.

When Konstantin Duhovny cooks a dish tied to a memory of someone deceased, he can summon their ghost back for one final meal. But what begins as a thrilling gift quickly spins out of control when Kostya decides to open a restaurant that promises to reunite the Living and the Dead. (It turns out that messing with the afterlife comes at a steep cost.)

As the boundaries between worlds start to blur, and as Kostya falls in love with a woman with her own secret relationship with the afterlife, he must confront the limits of what can be reclaimed, and what we must let go, in order to move on.

Deliciously unique and deeply emotional, Aftertaste is an epic love story and a genre-blending adventure through eating, grieving, and the moments that make us feel alive.

Hungry? Come take your seat at New York City's most unforgettable culinary experience.

About Daria Lavelle

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 DeadlandsThe Dread Machine, and elsewhere, and she holds degrees in writing from Princeton University and Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, children, and goldendoodle, all of whom love a great meal almost as much as she does. Learn more at DariaLavelle.com.  


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nilufer on June 18, 2025

This masterpiece is unquestionably one of the best books of the year. Who am I kidding? It’s one of the best things I’ve ever read! It explores the soul’s hunger, the kind of love that consumes you like a craving for salt, the deep, piercing pain of grief that stabs both heart and soul, and the bitt......more

Goodreads review by Summer on April 15, 2025

Aftertaste is a speculative fiction work that's centered around the culinary world and the supernatural realm. The book is so many things in one, it's a love story, a story about grief, and the danger that can accompany the spiritual world. Aftertaste explores our relationship to food and how certai......more

Goodreads review by Nichole on December 17, 2024

I have always had strong memories attached to food. My grandfather used to make fudge when I was a child and he would let me scrape the pot when he was done. Just the smell of that fudge takes me back to sitting with him and watching the magic unfold. Aftertaste takes the concept of food as memories......more

Goodreads review by Abbie Toria on March 30, 2025

4.5 stars "The Living, after all, ate mostly to remember. They marked their lives in food. In birthday cakes, and champagne toasts...To eat was to celebrate. Food was living, after all; food was love. It was how the Living coped. How they kept going. Shorthand for their entire lives." A highly addict......more

Goodreads review by Jimmie on November 14, 2024

I devoured this book! Pun intended. It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite reads of the year. The way it explores the connection between grief and food is both moving and relatable, capturing how a simple bite can bring back powerful memories. The food descriptions were so vivid and enticing, I fo......more


Quotes

"Ari Fliakos’s exceptional performance of haunted Kostya Duhovny is among the many pleasures of this immersive debut, a combination love story, Manhattan foodie romp, and otherworldly tale. Fliakos captures Kostya’s complex reactions to his supernatural ability to bring back the dead through food. 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. It all revolves around a Russian émigré’s son who is searching for meaning in kitchens and in the hereafter."

"Ari Fliakos’s exceptional performance of haunted Kostya Duhovny is among the many pleasures of this immersive debut, a combination love story, Manhattan foodie romp, and otherworldly tale. Fliakos captures Kostya’s complex reactions to his supernatural ability to bring back the dead through food. 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. It all revolves around a Russian émigré’s son who is searching for meaning in kitchens and in the hereafter."