Welcome to Kyrzbekistan, winner of Most Corrupt Country 2011 and 2012. A place where anyone can be happy – as long they aren’t poor, ill, foreign, a pedestrian, or in any way interested in the truth. A country that takes fake news and false promises to new levels. Expelled from school, Ellis Dau has been forced to help his father out at the Chronicle, the last bastion of free speech in this strange world. But when the country’s power supply fails and dark voices threaten the Chronicle‘s future, Ellis finds himself in an unlikely fight for freedom.
‘I loved this rollercoaster of a ride into a corrupt, fictitious country that feels only too hideously real’ Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
‘I loved this rollercoaster of a ride into a corrupt, fictitious country that feels only too hideously real’ Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
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Reviews
Far funnier than any account of approaching far-right revolution has the right to be. Highly recommended
A great kitchen novel. From describing the battle-scarred hands of a chef to the overall rhythm that goes into making every plate of food, Wroe . . . makes this ugly world delicious
I loved this rollercoaster of a ride into a corrupt, fictitious country that feels only too hideously real. Highly recommended
Brutally funny... Sometimes the truth is so strange it needs to be sautéed in a pan of fiction
Brace yourself for this lively, amusing and alarmingly informative novel
A complete page-turner. Reminiscent of Kitchen Confidential but with an entirely fresh voice that is a pleasure to read
Depicts the literal underworld of a restaurant kitchen with wit, vigor, and gleeful, necessary profanity
Scarily prophetic about news, freedom and truth. Whip smart and very funny
Clear-eyed and caustic... Nineteen Eighty-Four crossed with Adrian Mole
Perfectly baked [with] a rich, gooey pool of dark comedy hiding beneath the surface
Lip-smacking . . . As shocking and witty as it is savage
Often very funny and always pacy, Wroe's novel is at once a capering Bildungsroman and a serious examination of how easily democracy can crumble if the institutions and morals that keep it robust are attacked
1984 brought up to date with teenage black humour and hormones
As resonant as Orwell's 1984
Dark, pungent, twisted, surprising and above all genuinely funny. If you enjoy eating out, don't read this book
Dave Eggers channels Anthony Bourdain
Take Sacha Baron Cohen, add a twist of Kafka and lace it with Groucho Marx. You're entering the surreal and blackly funny world of Simon Wroe. A brilliant novel by a very special writer
sets out comically and satirically what can happen when the rules break down
'Raucous and inventive, peopled with technicolour characters and savagely funny, Chop Chop announces Simon Wroe as both an heir to Martin Amis and an oven-fresh talent unto himself'
A tour de force. A page-dazzler. A dark dream that may come true
Crammed full of funny lines, dazzlingly perceptive and witty
A greasy, hilarious tale of loyalty, revenge and dark appetites. A gripping look behind the kitchen wall