Gastronomique

At once a critique and celebration of bloodlust, this voraciously transgressive graphic novel picks apart the long-enduring societal fear: a woman with an appetite.

In eighteenth-century France, a royal spy sets out on a cat-and-mouse hunt for the deadly cannibal Tarrare in this carnal queer thriller!

During the French Revolution, the cunning and vengeful royal spy, Lady Charlotte, also known as “the Python,” is set to be executed—until her sister, Solange, pays her a visit, letting her know of a ghastly cannibal that has devoured her child. Feeling that she may have already crossed paths with the elusive cannibal, Charlotte vows to seek vengeance while Solange agrees to take her place in line for execution. With the help of her fellow spy and former lover, Zelie, Charlotte embarks on a journey through the seedy underbelly of Paris in pursuit of the insatiable cannibal, Tarrare.

Such a dangerous quest is not unfamiliar for Charlotte, but the path of retribution gives rise to a slow-burning desire—an aching urge, not just for Zelie and their passion-filled past, but for the fear and obsession that Tarrare strikes within her. Are these pangs of hunger new, or have they been there all along?

From New York Times bestselling writer Marguerite Bennett and with breathtaking, grotesque art by Helena Massellis, Gastronomique is a visual feast plating up the horror of desire and the corporeal form, and the pleasure of seeing those desires sated.

Collects Gastronomique #1-5.