Consumed is a distinctly feminine novel in its exploration of the power of mother–daughter relationships and its portrayal of women as lineal bearers of wisdom and sacred knowledge. Its protagonist is Amelia, an odd, fixated and lonely woman who yearns to explore the world of food and all its pleasures, the consequence of a deprived childhood at the hands of her ascetic mother. While in pursuit of a recipe for the perfect sauerkraut, Amelia encounters Katarina, its creator, and slowly becomes her protégée. Here, the novel transforms into a modern adult fairy tale about magical thinking and forces, and the awesome power of food.

The title is a clever one, for Hamilton uses consumption on a number of levels. Amelia is consumed by her desire for knowledge, food and experience, and the novel also serves as a critique of modern consumption and greed. However, a more disturbing level of consumption awaits at the end of the story.

The reader expecting something in the vein of Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate (1989) or Joanne Harris’s Chocolat (1999) will need to look elsewhere. Consumed is a tale of the acquisition and abuse of knowledge, the depths to which vengeance drives some people, and the power of perverse and primitive drives. It is also a story of obsession and fixation, seen through Amelia’s unquenchable desire for understanding, and later, ruthless and meticulously planned revenge; demonstrating how madness poisons rationality and permits evil in the name of justice. The taste will be too bitter for some.