She has thin lips and eagle eyes. He has full lips and gentle eyes. From the outside, no one would take him for the aggressor and her for the victim. Yet, a closer look, a sharper focus, and the hierarchy becomes clear: he commands, she obeys and bites her tongue. But she also cooks, because she is the dictator’s cook. And amidst the pots and pans, besides preparing exquisite feasts to satisfy the dictator’s insatiable hunger, she slow-cooks her revenge—which, like the finest literary vengeances, is a dish best served cold.

The Dictator’s Cook is a fun and mordant novel about the perversity that hides where least expected and the many things cooked in the shadows. A treatise on culinary arts and the fine craft of eating filled with unique characters and seasoned with Cruz’s unfailing clairvoyance.

 

“One of the most creative voices in the new literature in the Portuguese language.” – Mia Couto

“A true writer, as original as he is profound, whose books amaze readers, forcing them to stray from common certainties and open up to new realities.” – Miguel Real, Jornal de Letras

“Afonso Cruz is one of the strongest voices in contemporary Portuguese literature.”
– Antonio Sáez Delgado, El País

 

288 pages – Original Language: Portuguese (PRH/Companhia das Letras, 2026).