Never before has the phrase “eat your heart out” been imbued with more meaning than in this intensely emotive novel. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the blurb, but wow, was it impactful! The tension in the run up to the wedding was palpable and I’ve rarely felt so invested in a character as I was with Piglet. Every emotion she felt, I felt with her. This novel is a masterpiece of fiction writing and the author deserves every success that’s bound to come her way.

This sounded so good when I requested it but it did not meet my expectations. I could not relate to any of the characters as they were all so outrageous and crying not real. Piglet seemed slightly bizarre although I did enjoy all the bits about her cooking. There was a few funny parts in the book especially when everyone tried to say the name of the wedding cake.
What really upset me is that the reader is not told what the secret was that Kit had kept from her and I felt that this was a missing element. The story ended very much up in the air and it was disappointing.
I did like all the final parts at the end of each chapter as they summed things up so well.

Piglet by Lottie Hazell was a darkly enrapturing read; I was hooked from the off and only grew more fascinated and yet spooked as it went on. This book isn't marketed as a horror or even a thriller but it was nonetheless an unsettling read - to me anyway. We follow Piglet on her countdown to her wedding day; finding out about her deep seated body insecurity from the beginning and how this affects her choices, behaviours, mood and temperament throughout the novel.
Piglet is always described as hungry in some way, she has a knawing feeling that she can't get rid of no matter how much or how little she eats - this is only intensified by her fiance revealing to her a terrible secret (that we never quite find out) which sends her on a deeply destructive spiral.
I thought this book was utterly fantastic; the realism that comes with the disordered eating thought patterns of Piglet, and how its shown that while her family mean well they are the root cause and continuation of her issues.

I loved how this showed Piglet swinging between being determined to eat nothing and gorging herself, something so many people can relate to. the relationships she has and how she acts towards the people in her life such as her parents and her best friend (margot, heavily pregnant and unaware of the rift this is causing between her and her friend) were written so true to life, that even though we can see Piglet is acting irrationally and pushing her people away, we sympathise with her.

This book felt like a true "good for her" horror/thriller and I genuinely loved it - the ending was ambiguous but I thought it rounded off the novel excellently!

This is a really difficult book to review because the story was a bit bizarre for me. The character of Piglet is a bit of control freak and it was hard to feel anything for her throughout the book. The story was a mixture of personal drama and a study on Piglets relationship with food. Sadly this just didn't chime with me. Thanks to Lottie Hazell, Doubleday and Netgalley for the ARC.

It’s 98 days until Piglet marries Kit, she’s a WTB (wife to be) and a homeowner- in Oxford no less. Piglet takes her food very seriously and is likely to judge the contents of your supermarket trolley or your lunch order. Is her marriage to Kit and his upmarket family a chance to reinvent herself from her more humble family origins, whence came her name? However, when something looks too good to be true, it’s exactly that, as it may seem to glitter like gold when it’s actually fools gold. The story is told as a countdown to the wedding of the year and wedded bliss???

What a clever story which is so well written and I really like the way that the author has chosen to tell this thought provoking tale. There’s plenty to keep you interested in this story of fractured lives that makes you question what is real and genuine and what is superficial. Add in lies and betrayal , greed, desperation to fit in then you have a compelling read. It’s a very good character study and I don’t think it matters whether you like Piglet or not as you are going on a journey of self discovery with her. Her friend Margot is extremely likeable as is Piglet’s sister Franny (aka Banana) and her parents who are perfectly ordinary but so decent versus Kit’s parents Richard and Cecilia - what a contrast!

At times it’s darkly funny, there’s plenty of drama at several junctures of the plot especially the morning of the wedding and the actual event. You wouldn’t think it possible for the construction of patisserie to be so tense - I could scarcely breathe!!! There’s a bombshell or two, one of which is never revealed although you can guess, I like the way that Piglets obsession with food is used as a metaphor for her life and the situations she finds herself in. I think I’d eat my way out of some of them too especially if Piglet’s cooking! At the end of each chapter is a very revealing italiced sentence or two which gives pause for reflection.

Overall, I really enjoy this book as it’s different, it makes excellent points and has you salivating along the way.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK, Transworld for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Piglet is an oxymoron of a book: smart and sharp but also, opaque. It's a quick read, ideal for snatched bites when reading time is short.

Piglet is a novel about a woman whose wedding is approaching, as a perfect ideal of a life seems to be falling apart. Piglet—her family's nickname for her—is due to marry Kit, whose upper middle class Oxford parents are a far cry from her own, and soon they will have a perfect life of dinner parties and domestic bliss. But when Kit reveals a secret thirteen days before their wedding, Piglet must decide what she wants to do and what she really desires.

This book opens with Waitrose, and that really is a good marker of what is to come. Piglet takes aim at ideas of domestic bliss and a middle class idea of what people should do, blending satirical ridiculousness (Piglet and Kit's families are complete stereotypes) with extended descriptions of food. It is also very much about disordered eating and ways people unhealthily use food to cope, but in a literary way where this is not really addressed head on, as much of the book is. From the blurb, it might be difficult to tell how much this is literary fiction, about unlikeable characters and stereotypes and extended description that forces you to focus on the food, and not on the secret Kit has revealed, which is likely to make the book not for everyone.

The way Kit's secret is handled is also probably divisive, and I couldn't decide whilst reading it if the way the book does it (not wanting to entirely give spoilers) works best, especially as I did hope the book would get darker with the secret, breaking even further away from the conventions it is ridiculing. It does well to create a sense of horror around a lot of expected traditions, which might hit differently for people who have gone through them, and counters it with the subplot of Piglet's best friend Margot and her wife having a baby and Margot being a very different voice to everyone else around Piglet.

Taking aim at the idea of a domestic goddess who also shouldn't eat too much, Piglet is a bold novel that might not always satisfy, but was a compelling read. It's harsh and exaggerated, and it really does, unfortunately, make you hungry.

I've had a look at other reviews on here, and it's not surprising to see how divisive this book is - I always think that's a sign of an interesting novel. Personally, I adored it, while also being completely able to see where people are coming from with their criticisms. All I can say is that the issues that people point out are things that hit differently for me: I found the book hugely engrossing; sharply observed; deliciously dark and blackly funny.

I flew through this book, however, it's not my favourite read. It's a good story, but at times I felt unsatisfied with the metaphors and the hidden meanings. I almost just wanted to know what was going on, rather than trying to desperately search for clues in the text.

An engrossing and grotesque story about a woman learning her own self worth. Piglet contorts herself into what she imagines everybody around her wants her to be, never feeling satisfied. Ultimately this is an exploration of self-control, class and ambition, appetite and the pleasures of eating. If you liked Anna Metcalfe’s Chrysalis and Melissa Broder’s Milk Fed, then you’ll enjoy this. The descriptions of food are extremely vivid and I can see it working for film/TV.

Piglet by Lottie Hazell
This is a quick and interesting read. Piglet has always been called Piglet by her family and it is not until the end of the novel we actually discover her real name. Piglet works for a publishing company which produces books about food, her life revolves around food and there are many descriptions of her cooking and shopping for food. She is preparing for her wedding and the creation of a croquembouche as her wedding cake. As the book progresses we learn more about Piglet and the reason for her current positon. It is an emotionally intense novel and is all about appetite and control.

Piglet works in editing – for food writers, and she often uses recipes she comes across to concoct sumptuous feasts for her lovely fiancé Kit and their guests. In fact, much of her life might be concocted- her fiancé, their perfect relationship with wedding 13 weeks ahead, their new home and her recent promotion. When events take an unexpected turn, Piglet is forced to weigh up what she is and where.
Piglet is a thought provoking read. Lottie Hazell widens the view over this blessed group to include Piglet’s family, now more or less left to one side in Derby whiles she moves upwards in Oxford and Kit’s devoted, Porsche owing mother and father who live close at hand. But the holes really start to appear when her relationship with Kit comes into question.
What makes this novel so good is that many of the reveals are by implication, some are excruciating and sweat-inducingly not, but all lead to the central question of which is the more important, what you are or what you are seen to be.
I absolutely loved and would recommend this, the croquembouche will stay with me forever

When I read the blurb I thought it was a fascinating premise. Confusion began when the author on my kindle says Steve Jones and the the actual author is Lottie Hazel.
I didn't really connect with any of the characters in the book. They seemed so cliched and stereotypical that they didn't feel real. Calling your daughter Pig/Piglet when they clearly have some sort of eating disorder seems unnecessarily cruel. The amount of detail concerning food and the croquembouche (which for some reason I just wanted it to fall down). seemed to dominate the narrative. A metaphor for fat women pretending to be something they aren't? Seems very unkind. The whole wedding dress fitting fiasco was cringeworthy. A sort of parody that could have been funny but somehow well missed the mark. The "secret"... well what was it? The reader is never told. Does that matter? Yes because it feels as though you're being cheated as a reader, as if you can't be trusted. Everyone else can know except you.
It felt like the author was saying that we should all know our place and social mobility is a myth.
Maybe I'm missing the point? I don't know but I was very disappointed

I found this debut novel quite compelling, the pace was propulsive as it led towards the ‘will she won’t she?’ denouement. There are some excruciating moments in Piglet’s story but while I squirmed, it did feel authentic.

The themes of disordered eating and mental health struggles were certainly more prevalent than I expected from the cutesy title, cover and blurb- so a trigger warning might be appropriate.

The writing was a lyrical and impressive

I'm not sure I'm the right target reader for this book. I struggled to connect to the characters because I found them so unlikeable. I did finish the book but I was left feeling that either I had missed something or something was missing.

I finished this in just a few days. It was a really easy read. That makes it sound a bit insubstantial but that's not the case. It's easy to read because it flows. The story also has a specific event that its working toward. Piglets wedding.
I loved the use of food to show how piglet was feeling. The scenes on the morning of her wedding really added to the sense of stress.
At the start piglets life seems perfect but the cracks start to show really quickly. I gobbled it up.

I thought the first reviews here were a bit harsh, so glad to see the star rating climbing. I *did* relate to Piglet - mind, I lived in Oxford for several years, work in publishing, love food and am from the North East rather than London, so that shouldn't be too surprising really.

Piglet is living with her posh fiance Kit in one of those identikit Summertown houses, commuting to London to work in a junior role at publisher Fork House. She expresses herself through food, and as the wedding day approaches her focus on it gets stronger. There are hints of Atwood's The Edible Woman here, except instead of not being able to eat, like Atwood's heroine, Piglet can't stop.

This book isn't perfect - Kit's secret is never spelled out (pretty clear what it is, but given how many pages are devoted to it, you'd think there might be a few details) and Piglet's feelings remain quite opaque, even towards the end of the book. I loved her lesbian friend Margot and how she manages to stay grounded amid all the craziness, even as she gives birth. Generally, there's a lot to like here and a really interesting take on women's relationships to food, food writing and the domestic goddess/bridezilla as you've never seen her before.

Moreish, this book is utterly moreish. That is the word that springs to mind, and if you read it, you'll understand why. The blend of wedding countdown and food-writing here is darkly delicious. The descriptions are decadent – I could taste the semifreddo, feel the lace corset of the bridal gown – and no, I could not put it down. I kept going, just like Piglet, working my way through the smorgasbord. A proper feast, to be sure, and I'll be looking forward to what Hazell serves up for the next novel.

I thought the premise of this novel was curious and compelling, but will admit that it took me a while to get into it, I might say, in the same way that it seems to take the protagonist, Piglet to fit into and cling onto the world she desired. I'm not sure that was the authorial intention, but I'm going with that. I like the way the characters are drawn and the quality of writing is very good. This isn't a novel for those who insist on 'likeable' characters. These are compelling in a different way. What I also liked about it was the sense of place and time. Waitrose needs to feature in more novels, I feel, after reading this. My thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC - much appreciated, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Possible spoilers

I started out being very glad I had eaten before reading this book, the descriptions of food are enough to make you hungry
But as we continued into the story, and things were no longer so rosy, the descriptions of food became desperate, and sad.
This book is a weird one, I found it uncomfortable that our main character was called Piglet by everyone, the characters were too much of a cliche, and I was frustrating at part of the story never actually being revealed, just hinted at.

Despite that, I enjoyed the writing style, and it did a beautiful job of capturing some great moments, mainly between Piglet, and ger sister and best friend.
I'm keen to see what the author does next.