Aftertaste: A Novel

Aftertaste follows Konstantin Duhovny, a cook with an extraordinary ability: when he prepares a dish connected to a memory of someone who has died, he can summon their ghost for one final meal. What starts as a remarkable gift becomes complicated when Kostya opens a restaurant designed to reunite the living with the dead. As the boundaries between worlds blur and he falls in love with a woman who has her own connection to the afterlife, he must grapple with what can truly be reclaimed and what must be released in order to move forward. Set in New York City, the novel blends elements of magical realism with the high-stakes world of professional cooking. It explores themes of love, loss, grief, and closure through the lens of food and memory, combining dark comedy with emotional depth.