Crandolin

By: Anna Tambour

Narrated by: Joshua Saxon

In a medieval cookbook in a special-collections library, near-future London, jaded food-and-drink authority Nick Kippax finds an alluring stain next to a recipe for the mythical crandolin. He tastes it, ravishing the page. Then he disappears. The World Fantasy Award finalist from a critically acclaimed writer.

The only novel ever committed that was inspired by postmodern physics and Ottoman confectionery.

“I don't think that you can really review an Anna Tambour book, you can merely sort of hang on for the ride and hope that your literary senses are still intact when you're done.... Yup, CRANDOLIN is essentially a cookery book. A cookery book of cosmic proportions.... CRANDOLIN is fabulation at its most exciting.... Anna Tambour is a rogue punk-prophetess whose writings not only stray from the beaten path; some of them are so far out there that you can hear the distant drums of strange story-tribes being awakened by her prose.” (I. O'Reilly, review, British Fantasy Society)

“Immerse yourself in the magical world of Anna Tambour’s Crandolin, a delirious journey that takes the reader through Central Asia and Russia with some fascinating strangers and a donkey, a demanding musical instrument, and delicious hints of nougat and honey.” (Ellen Datlow)

“By turns lyrical and absurdist, whimsical and elegantly true, Crandolin is unlike any novel you will ever have read. Anna Tambour is brilliant, a true original.” (Lucius Shepard)

“At heart Crandolin is a rich confectionery, a tapestry woven out of dreams and nightmares, an Arabian Nights tale for the twenty first century with Tambour as Scheherazade, lulling us with her mellifluous voice and artistry. I loved it, and didn’t want it to end.” (Peter Tennant, review, Black Static)

©2012 Anna Tambour (P)2022 David N. Wilson

Amazing performance for a truly unique book

I read this book five years ago and, while I loved the craft of the words, it simply defied reading in text-to-speech.The audio version was published this year and I grabbed it. And what an audiobook! This takes the wondrous, strange, and witty ride that is Crandolin and elevates it to a truly memorable experience. It managed to equal reading One Hundred Years of Solitude as performed by John Lee. I can't imagine a better narrator than Joshua Saxon for this mosaic of strung-together vignettes of various individuals and groups on their journeys in various timelines, all searching for fulfillment in one form or another. The stories are loosely held together by the Crandolin, which, merging in a most unique way with the first character, Nick, allows us to flit in and out of the other lives before the story comes full circle again. Anna Tambour is a master at weaving words and story and humor into something truly unique, and Joshua Saxon brings it vividly to life.