Even weeks after finishing this book I still don't know what to make of it. What the point of it was. Or even whether there was a point. I know I was upset and maybe offended by a lot of what I read. Maybe THAT's the point. I know it will make for a brilliantly controversial reading club selection for anyone brave enough to suggest it.
Yes there were things I enjoyed. I wouldn't have carried on reading if there wasn't. There were a few hard hitting poignant topics covered, and covered well. And I really didn't like Piglet, but that doesn't always matter.
But mostly I guess I feel let down cos I didn't get the answers that I wanted. A certain something was left unsaid. Unexplained. So I am not even sure I had enough evidence to make any conclusions about what the book meant to me, and how I felt about it. Apart from cheated.
But maybe THAT's the point... Dunno. Not gonna waste any more time thinking about it.
That said, many others have loved it... So who am I to judge...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Quirky title and hoped it would as good as it sounded. In fact, it was amazing. A lovely read for those winter nights. Thank you for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I absolutely loved this - I found it difficult to put down at times because Piglet's story rang so true. Having got married myself within the last year, I can't even imagine how I would handle being in Piglet's situation. This is really a story about not settling and knowing your own worth, set against two things that classically define women - the wedding industry and food. We never find out what Kit actually did, though we can assume it was something like an affair, but this strengthens the narrative as it actually doesn't matter what Kit did - it's really about Piglet finding her own voice. While there was quite a lot of classism that sometimes rang a bit false (as someone who grew up in Derby I didn't appreciate the constant slamming of it!) it was in service to the story, and at the end of the day Piglet wasn't perfect - she just needed to know she was good enough not to have to settle.

A bit of a strange one. Piglet is getting married to Kit in October. His parents are paying for everything apart from her dress, which her parents are paying for.
Thirteen days before the wedding he drops a bombshell on her and she has to decide whether or not to go through with the wedding. One week before the wedding at her final dressing fitting, her maid of honour goes into labour and says that she can no longer come to the wedding.
As Piglets life falls apart she carries on with the preparations but you wonder if she is going to go through with it.

Lottie Hazell's debut novel 'Piglet' is an engaging tale of love, culinary passion, and personal struggle. The story revolves around Piglet, a food enthusiast, who faces a major dilemma just days before her wedding to Kit. However, the plot takes a dramatic turn when Kit reveals a secret, forcing Piglet to choose between the life she thought she wanted and what truly matters to her. The novel shines in its portrayal of food not just as a hobby but as a reflection of Piglet's identity and desires.

What makes 'Piglet' compelling is Hazell's ability to capture the protagonist's internal conflict and rage in a relatable way. The narrative is straightforward and engaging, balancing culinary descriptions with the emotional depth of Piglet's journey towards self-discovery. This book, with its mix of food, romance, and drama, deserves a 4.5-star rating. It's a great read for anyone who enjoys stories about personal growth and making tough life choices.

This has been one of those books that I’ve just not been able to put down, so compelling is Piglet’s story and the countdown to her wedding. The perfect life: a house in Oxford, a well to do fiancé and his family who couldn’t be further away from her northern upbringing, a dream job in food publishing, amazing friends. What could possibly go wrong for Piglet? But a confession of betrayal from fiancé Kit turns all of Piglet’s ideal life upside down. Through her obsession for food, both creative and emotional, Piglet strives to find her way through and for me this relationship with food acted as a metaphor for her struggling to understand her own real desires and to regain control of her own life and destiny. I thought the writing was superb, especially the cooking scenes, full of such richly evocative descriptions, the sense of pathos and the dark humour running almost as an undercurrent throughout. A very clever debut novel that will certainly make you think twice about how women are perceived in society even today.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Random House UK, Transworld for an arc in exchange for a review.

I finished reading this a few days ago and needed time to process it before I could think about starting a review. Some of the themes hit close to home for me personally, and I also think I was trying to figure out if I had enjoyed it or not - this is a story that you primarily witness, and it's really important to witness it, but it made it seem wrong to admit that I had enjoyed witnessing raw female rage and a life falling apart whilst the people who are supposed to love and protect you stand by and worry more about what others will think than what you need from them (with the exception of the glorious Margot and, surprisingly, Darren) in this moment.

Every word in this book is carefully chosen and the effect is a visceral experience that is vividly visual - I felt like a voyeur, watching all this unroll through a window. The cooking and eating passages (of which there are many, food is central theme) are relatable and uncomfortable at the same time. Lottie Hazell really nails the relationship that so many women have with food, how they define themselves by what they eat, when/where they eat it, and how much of it they eat. Food is both a reward and a consolation. I felt that food also acted a great vehicle for ramping tension - I thought I might pass out reading the wedding morning croquembouche-making scene!

There is a situation that arises to unleash all of Piglet's rage - she is betrayed by her husband-to-be, but we never find out the nature of the betrayal. My view of this writing decision is that the specific betrayal isn't important and that the meticulous curation of a perceived life that Piglet had crafted was always going to implode at some point and the rage was always going to consume her and need an outlet. It forced her to see the difference between what she thought she wanted and what she actually would go to lengths to protect when the chips were down.

The aftermath almost seems cathartic, like maybe Piglet will have a better sense of who she is from her own beliefs rather than who she thinks society is showing her she is or what kind of life she deserves - it's only at the end of the book that we learn her actual name rather than only seeing her through the lens of the god-awful moniker thrust on her by her family and I hope this is a sign of her taking some control back.

This book shows the characters warts and all. No-one comes out of it well, it shows an honest view of the things that we try and hide from public knowledge...but that makes it a better book, in my opinion. I'm fine with not completely liking literary characters, it doesn't impact my enjoyment of a book.

And I thoroughly enjoyed this unforgettable book

I'd heard lots of people being really positive about this book but it never quite clicked for me, I could see why Piglet acted as she did in some ways but I found her to be a selfish and vaguely unlikeable character over all.
The descriptions of food were overwhelming and for me the depiction of the two eating disorders wasn't well done.
The very final recipe/cook did sound amazing however!

With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

Piglet is engaged to Kit, happily ensconced in a new house and planning her wedding. An excellent cook who has made it her profession, she is making her own wedding cake. Her life is one of careful reinvention - she has been brought up in Derby by working class parents with old-fashioned values, set routines and a hopeless lack of understanding of their two daughters, though their hearts are in the right place. Her new home, a decent distance away in Oxford, and Kit, her soon-to-be-husband from a wealthy middle-class family, are her chance to put her childhood behind her.

When, less than a fortnight before the wedding, Kit reveals a terrible secret (never revealed), Piglet's carefully constructed perfect life begins to unravel, and she just doesn't know how to handle it - so she doesn't. She decided the wedding will go ahead, and all will be normal. Except it isn't, because things have to be faced not suppressed. And her physical hunger grows as the emptiness inside goes unaddressed. Her childhood nickname takes on more disturbing overtones as the reasons for it are revealed and binge-eating becomes her own way of not dealing with the threat of chaos in her life.

I didn't really warm to this book, or to Piglet. It is billed as literary fiction, but presented as a lighter read. We see Piglet's life unravelling from the outside, looking in, and she never becomes a real, rounded character. I found it incredibly frustrating that Kit's great confession is never defined - it bothered me that I felt I therefore couldn't make up my own mind about whether Piglet was overreacting, or was right to be stunned, or her trauma was justified. I know what should matter is not the details but her feelings, but it made it much harder to empathise. It also bothered me that in this day and age, a woman who had successfully distanced herself from a family that had traumatised her, and reinvented herself, would be so devastated at the idea of not being married after all. And without giving too much away, some of the metaphors really are laid on rather thick.

It's a moderately interesting read, but not especially insightful as a character portrait or an examination of everyday family trauma or eating disorders.

First big hype book of 2024 from my TBR! And to be honest, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it.

We meet Piglet in the build-up to her wedding to Kit and everything seems to be going to plan - she's got the great job, the attentive and loving fiance from a well-to-do family, just managed to buy a house. From the outside, everything is going well. Piglet LOOOVES food and cooking, and a lot of detail is given to her planning, preparing and eating it.

Then Kit drops a bombshell a couple of weeks before the big day - and, well, things get a bit weird. We don't get much conversation from Piglet even though things are told from her POV, there isn't much in the way of insight into what is going on or the reasons for her acting the way she does or making the decisions she goes ahead with. As a reader, I would have liked to know a bit more about what was going on inside her head.

I don't want to go into too much detail and giveaway any spoilers - I am sure lots and lots of people will read this and absolutely love it - but for me, it fell a bit flat. I enjoyed the food descriptions, I liked meeting the supporting characters, I was initially hooked by what was going on - but by the end, I still wasn't an awful lot clearer about what had been happening. I struggled to empathise with Piglet although it was clear she had a lot going on we are kept on the outside looking in so I didn't feel very invested.

As some other reviewers have mentioned, this is likely to be a love-it-or-hate-it kindof book and while I didn't hate it exactly I think it's fair to say I don't think I really GOT it.

Piglet is the nickname given to our main character in childhood. We join her life in the weeks leading up to her wedding. We find out over the course of the book that Piglet feels disconnected from much of her family and is desperate for a better life. She seems to have found it with her fiancé Kit and his well to do parents. But Kit then shares a secret which not only threatens to derail the wedding but all of Piglet’s carefully laid plans for her life.

This is a promising debut novel from the author who somehow manages to weave together many different themes including classism, eating disorders, family dynamics and the changing nature of friendships as your grow older. And as other reviewers have already mentioned, there are some wonderful food descriptions which will leave your stomach rumbling. However, I found it difficult to understand all of Piglet’s decisions and actions. They become a bit clearer towards the end when an internal monologue summarises it all very succinctly. I don’t want to go into too much detail and spoil it for readers but I just felt like there was something missing from the earlier descriptions.

While I enjoyed reading this book (and I think it will be popular with others) I feel like it didn’t quite live up to the hype that I have seen about it online. But the author is clearly very talented and I look forward to reading future novels from them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Don’t read this book when you’re hungry or you’ll eat your entire kitchen, it’s got some very tasty things to eat in it.

Piglet as everyone calls her is on the countdown to her wedding with Kit, she works for a cook book publisher so she knows her food. Kit confesses to a betrayal 2 weeks before the wedding and everything gets untangled. Piglet uses food as her emotional helper. Will the wedding go ahead?

This is a deep book, it hits nerves about people’s views to larger people. I found Piglets family to her eating problems and didn’t like them much. Kit was an arrogant character who thought he could get everything he wanted. I felt sorry for Piglet, she was sad and food made her happy.

This is a lovely written book with great descriptions especially food. I liked the message that the author is putting across that size doesn’t matter.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

Review: Piglet by Lottie Hazell

Two weeks before her wedding, Piglet’s life comes crashing down as her fiancé confesses what he had done. While the storytelling counts down the days towards their big day she tries to hold everything together despite her life falling apart. Piglet, who edits cookbooks as a career, engages in self-destructive behavior to cope with the situation she was put in. The secret she keeps as a promise to her fiancé is tearing her up inside as she struggles with more difficult relationships with her parents and best friend. Would they be supportive of her if they knew?

It’s been some time since I read a book this fast. This study of an imploding relationship only took me one snowy weekend to finish. The book does a great job in exploring the concept of eating your feeling, how commonly bodyshaming is in family settings (Piglet is her family’s nickname for her) and how binge eating can be a trauma response. Using a countdown towards the wedding as a storytelling element does a great job in feeling the pressure that has been put on Piglet to make a decision for herself. Big reading recommendation :)

The cover of this book appeals to the eye, the luscious food descriptions woven throughout this novel are almost like a character in themself, they appeal to the hunger you feel reading this and the unsettling almost claustrophobic story will appeal to some part of you but you won't be sure where. Like a hunger for a specific food but you're not sure what that food is or an itch on your shoulder, you can't quite reach to scratch, almost intolerable but with the promise of future satisfaction.

This is one of early 2024's most anticipated reads, I have seen it everywhere. Is it worthy of its hype? For me, absolutely yes. I think it will be a decisive read, some will love it, some will recognise a lot in this book, some will hate it but it's definitely a book worthy of discussion, a good book club choice.

As the book begins, Piglet ( a childhood nickname that stuck) is a few months out from her wedding to the handsome Kit, they have a lovely home, Piglet loves to cook and is a cookbook editor, she has good friends, she has worked hard to have this dream life and everything is going per her plan . Then two weeks before her wedding , Kit confesses a horrible betrayal and Piglet's perfectly planned life implodes. She is torn, angry and hungry.

This was a captivating, tense and clever read. I can't say it was enjoyable as such ( bar the exquisitely captured food descriptions) but it's exceptionally well written and impossible to put down. It's uncomfortable, familiar, thought provoking, anger inducting, witty, heartbreaking and will make you hungry. Female rage, class, ambition, gender expectations, class divides, loyalty and control. So many themes are subtlety crafted throughout and there is a woman in the centre of it who isn't always likeable but who quietly broke my heart.

A superbly written novel ,I am looking forward to more from Lottie Hazell and to hearing what others think of this book.

4-4.5 stars.

Hmmmm... not sure how I feel about this one! Definitely different and I enjoyed some parts, but it did feel like I was rushing through a lot of it just to get to the ending, which again was a little weird.

"It was too hot for a roast chicken, but Piglet had once heard Nigella say something about a house only being a home once a chicken was in the oven. And anyway, there would be salads. One chopped and scattered with feta and sumac, another leafy with soft herbs. New potatoes, boiled and dotted with bright salsa verde. Bread and two types of butter: confit garlic, and parmesan and black pepper. There would be cold wine and open windows, patio doors thrown wide. It would look and taste exquisite."

If that paragraph alone doesn't make your mouth water and want to read on, this is not the book for you!! It's fair to say that I devoured this book. I was captivated by the writing style and the elegant way the author spools out the story of Piglet and Kit. Piglet has taken such care to build up an image of herself that will be palatable to the outside world and it's devastating to her when Kit reveals a secret 13 days before the wedding that could shatter everything.

Food is used throughout the novel as the way Piglet displays her emotions - elaborate dinner parties showing her care of friends, ordering everything on the menu at an Indian restaurant to comfort herself after the revelation - and this is used to greatest effect with the creation of her wedding cake, a towering croquembouche. I think Piglet uses food and eating it as a way to keep complicated emotions squashed down inside herself - literally, eating her feelings.

I read The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood at university. It's been a few years now, but I think there are similar themes across both novels about marriage and what it means for women - and the complicated relationship we have with food and emotion. I recently read Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda, which also explores similar themes through the medium of vampirism in a contemporary context.

I couldn't read this fast enough. The scenes of Piglet getting ready for her wedding day were so excruciatingly awkward! I just had to know what would happen next throughout the novel. If you're looking for a tense, moving and mouth-watering novel with a layered female protagonist, this is for you. A great novel for a book club too!

I really loved aspects of this, particularly the exploration of indulging your pleasures as a woman and the societal shame around this. These were often expressed through delectable descriptions of food, but they were also corrosive and self-destructive episodes. What I didn’t love was while I understand a certain decision Hazell made, it made me crave more from the ending.

This is definitely a marmite book. It is well written has a great pace and keeps you hanging on to find out what Kit actually did. Quite domestic noir.

Thank you so much to the publishers, I was really grateful to receive an eArc on NetGalley for an honest review, so I feel like I should be completely transparent. The novel left me with more questions than answers, and not in a good way. I can't obviously go into detail with my questioning, as that would reveal massive spoilers. 

I think I'll start with what I did like. Lottie had an unusual way of writing the story and letting the events unfold, which I actually really enjoyed. It created a lot of suspense. I also liked that the information was withheld throughout, so it kept you wanting to read more and more to find out what was going on. The opening scenes were great, and I loved the attention to detail that was put into the food and cooking (sometimes).

I think the main parts that let it down for me, without revealing anything, is the nickname, Piglet. I get it's a family nickname due to them constantly pointing out Piglet's greed, but this was obviously uncomfortable for Piglet, so I'm not sure why it was necessary to use it throughout the whole novel. Another weird thing was the binge eating, it was never actual said, but it was obvious that that's what was happening, however, in some scenes it felt so far fetched and exaggerated, which I felt didn't do the ED justice. I would have liked more internal dialogue from Piglet to understand why she needed to gorge: Was it punishment, pleasure, guilt, greed, all of these? I just felt like the whole novel was lacking emotion, really, and Piglet never actually spoke about anything, which made her quite an unlikeable character. I actually didn't feel any empathy towards her at all, and in fact, it made me feel sorry for all those around her. 

The final scene was strange, in my opinion, too. I did, and I didn't get it. It was a little bit of a letdown, and I just wanted some clarification on a few things, but it wasn't given. Instead, I read how to cook linguine. 

Sometimes, I feel like I just don't GET a book, and this is probably the case in this instance.

This was such a clever story, told largely through (mouth watering) descriptions of food. I really felt for Piglet throughout - for her feeling stuck in her relationship and wanting the perfect life, to seeing her interactions with her family, and how keeping her sister's secret led to her parents having an incorrect negative view of her.
I was gripped throughout, wondering if she was actually going to go through with the wedding.
A fantastic debut.