For generations, the slave narratives of writers like Olaudah Equiano, Mary Prince and Frederick Douglass have shined a light on the darkness and depravity of the slave trade and the oppression of slaves in America. Though slavery ended in this country, the effects are still with us --- from casual to institutional racism, not to mention forms of slavery and bondage related to domestic, sex and farm work.

In his latest novel, James Hannaham explores these themes through the voices of three related characters: Darlene, the victim of racism, violence, economic hardship and, finally, slavery; her young son and would-be rescuer, Eddie; and Scotty, the crack cocaine to which Darlene is addicted. To say that DELICIOUS FOODS is powerful, inventive, brutal and irresistible would be an understatement. It is really an astonishing book.

"DELICIOUS FOODS is an allegory and a satire that takes classic slave narratives, hundreds of years of American racism and contemporary socio-cultural issues, and turns them all upside down, creating a riveting, harrowing and brilliant novel."

Despite being cursed by a wronged sorority sister and having to leave town to start a new life, the marriage of Nat and Darlene is a good one. They run a successful store and do important, difficult activist work in their community. But when Eddie is just two years old, Nat is brutally murdered, and it soon becomes clear to Darlene that his white killers will go unpunished and remain unrepentant. She slips into a deep depression and then begins smoking crack to alleviate her suffering. Unable to hold down a job or care for Eddie, she ends up prostituting herself to pay for her crack habit.

It is in this devastated state, on the side of the road after physically fighting with a john who just knocked her teeth out, that she is approached by a woman promising a wonderful job at Delicious Foods. With her addiction compelling her, Darlene gets in a van with strangers, is plied with crack and driven for hours to a farm where she is locked in a crowded and filthy bunker. For the next six years, she is held prisoner and forced to work on the farm for a small amount of money that she uses to buy crack. Darlene, living with a host of other workers, most of whom are black and Mexican addicts, has no real idea where she is or what happened to Eddie since the night she got in the van.

For his part, 11-year-old Eddie has been looking for his mother in the seediest and sketchiest parts of town, spending his nights with hookers and addicts, trying to learn her whereabouts after the police fail to investigate her disappearance. It is only after he meets a drunk bum named Tuck that he learns she got into the van and was recruited for work. He decides to follow her to Delicious Foods and ends up taking Tuck with him. When Eddie and Darlene are finally reunited, there is little to celebrate. Now both are held hostage, abused, beaten and berated by the cruel taskmasters and the farm owner, Sextus Fusilier. When escape, after so many years, finally becomes possible, Eddie and Darlene face terrible and painful choices, both physical and emotional, and each pays a high price for freedom.

Each of the three narrative voices is powerful and interesting, and Hannaham is in full command of all three with rarely a dull moment or a slip in style. Scotty, the personified voice of crack, is chilling and seductive --- a wry and biased observer of the action, as well as the force that drives the plot toward many of its perilous moments. However, the real evil here is not drugs but the disdain for the humanity of others that allows for racism, violence, human trafficking, abuse and more to exist. Yet, Hannaham is never preachy or dull in this indictment, instead offering readers a moving and unforgettable portrayal of characters shaped by this evil and resisting it to the best of their abilities.

DELICIOUS FOODS is an allegory and a satire that takes classic slave narratives, hundreds of years of American racism and contemporary socio-cultural issues, and turns them all upside down, creating a riveting, harrowing and brilliant novel.