John Saturnall's Feast by Lawrence Norfolk: review All of Lawrence Norfolk's novels - there have been two others since his spectacular debut, Lemprière's Dictionary, in 1991 - give the reader food for thought. However, his latest offering is stuffed with thoughts about food. Try these for starters: "black chawdron and bukkenade, sweet and sour egredouce, camelade and peppery gauncil." The names of such ancient sauces might send you back to the OED but, in Norfolk's skilful hands, there is no danger of verbal indigestion. In fact, John Saturnall's Feast is the most accessible of his works. A grown-up fairy tale - complete with pretty pictures - it recounts the life story of John Sandall, whose preternatural sense of smell, which he calls his demon, allows him to identify the contents of any cooking pot. King Charles I is on the throne. The nation is riven with political and religious strife. Even in the idyllic backwater of deepest Somerset, a blond firebrand called Marpot is causing trouble. When John's mother is accused of being a witch they are forced to flee into the greenwood. Before she freezes to death, Susan Sandall fills her son with all the secrets of her big black book. Although slowly starving, the pair conjure up magical recipes and John is imbued with the spirit of Saturnus, creator of a fabled feast that surpassed all others. This stands him in good stead when he is sent to Buckland Manor, where the kitchen boy falls in love with the beautiful, but anorexic, daughter of Sir William Fremantle. Can John's culinary cunning tickle her fancy? It is not just the descriptions of honey-sugared creams, candies and comfits that will have you salivating. Norfolk knows how to make words roll around the mouth: "Clover petals yielded honey-beads and jellylike mallow seeds savoured of nuts." Even if cherries don't bake your cake there is plenty of other delights on offer. Fans of Norfolk's The Pope's Rhinoceros (1996) will relish the pageantry and pedantry involved in explicating the inner workings of the Stuart court. Fantastical architecture and weird botany are a vivid background to the bloody conflict and swooning romance. Norfolk is an expert on obscure sources as well as sauces. His blend of horrid history and oddly credible fantasy deserves to be consumed by the masses. John Saturnall's Feast Lawrence Norfolk Bloomsbury £16.99, 408pp