Nobody —and the whole of Boteju Land agreed — could cook like Maudiegirl. She wielded a wizard’s wand not only in the kitchen but also over domestic problems, however large in magnitude; from predicting the sex of an unborn child to knowing more than a dozen ways to cook eels; from cutting a goat in the right way to setting failing marriages straight; from nursing the ailing to health to keeping the best kitchen, Maudiegirl had a solution to every little problem. Her home was her castle and the kitchen her domain.
In the fourth serving of his Burgher chronicles — Maudiegirl and the von Bloss Kitchen — Carl Muller reverts to his favourite family, the von Blosses of his first Burgher book The Jam Fruit Tree. A hungry family and a wonderful cook, a kind paedophile, a cantankerous mother-in-law, a disloyal husband, good-for-nothing uncles, prudish Pentecostal, Dunnyboy’s exhibitionism, Sonnaboy’s show-of-strength — the author captures the hallmarks of the von Blosses’ days and ways in his quintessentially irreverent, witty and heart-warming style.
Grandmama’s Kitchen features many of Maudiegirl’s famous recipes making the book a treat not only for Muller fans but also for the senses!
Carl Muller is an unusual man. He is no academic; kicked out of three schools, he never went to university and served in the Royal Ceylon Navy, the Ceylon Army and the port of Colombo as a pilot station signalman. In advertising briefly, he was also involved in the travel trade, and donned the robes of an entertainer. A pianist and a journalist, Carl Muller has a large number of published titles, ranging from poetry to science fiction, under his belt. But it is his Burgher novels that have earned him special acclaim, especially the first one, The Jam Fruit Tree, which won the Gratiaen Memorial Prize, 1993, for the best work of English literature by a Sri Lankan. He has also won the State Literary Award for his historical novel, Children of the Lion.
He lives with his wife, Sortain, in Kandy.
Business Standard praises Muller thus: ‘‘He tells his tale with a gentle humour often bordering on tenderness, but couched in the vigorous rugged localese. Almost immediately we find ourselves empathizing with Muller’s roistering band that sins and prays with equal zest.’’
Kalakeerthi Ashley Halpe, Emeritus Professor of English, University of Peradeniya says: ‘‘Powerfully matriarchal, presenting the Burgher women of old as a force to be reckoned with, Maudiegirl and the von Bloss Kitchen gives us lovable Maudiegirl, firmly ensconced at the centre of the von Bloss universe, her children and her neighbours, her stubbornness and her dedication to the running of her home, however crazy things may be, her home-brewed wisdom and, above all, her cooking. The recipes are a vital part of the book’s rich life, no less than the throbbing energies of railway Burgher families that Carl Muller renders with his inimitable gusto in this evocation of the von Bloss world. Carl Muller has paid his grandmother, upon whom the character of Maudiegirl is based, the greatest tribute ever.’’
(Penguin Books India) THE SENTINEL
In the fourth serving of his Burgher chronicles — Maudiegirl and the von Bloss Kitchen — Carl Muller reverts to his favourite family, the von Blosses of his first Burgher book The Jam Fruit Tree. A hungry family and a wonderful cook, a kind paedophile, a cantankerous mother-in-law, a disloyal husband, good-for-nothing uncles, prudish Pentecostal, Dunnyboy’s exhibitionism, Sonnaboy’s show-of-strength — the author captures the hallmarks of the von Blosses’ days and ways in his quintessentially irreverent, witty and heart-warming style.
Grandmama’s Kitchen features many of Maudiegirl’s famous recipes making the book a treat not only for Muller fans but also for the senses!
Carl Muller is an unusual man. He is no academic; kicked out of three schools, he never went to university and served in the Royal Ceylon Navy, the Ceylon Army and the port of Colombo as a pilot station signalman. In advertising briefly, he was also involved in the travel trade, and donned the robes of an entertainer. A pianist and a journalist, Carl Muller has a large number of published titles, ranging from poetry to science fiction, under his belt. But it is his Burgher novels that have earned him special acclaim, especially the first one, The Jam Fruit Tree, which won the Gratiaen Memorial Prize, 1993, for the best work of English literature by a Sri Lankan. He has also won the State Literary Award for his historical novel, Children of the Lion.
He lives with his wife, Sortain, in Kandy.
Business Standard praises Muller thus: ‘‘He tells his tale with a gentle humour often bordering on tenderness, but couched in the vigorous rugged localese. Almost immediately we find ourselves empathizing with Muller’s roistering band that sins and prays with equal zest.’’
Kalakeerthi Ashley Halpe, Emeritus Professor of English, University of Peradeniya says: ‘‘Powerfully matriarchal, presenting the Burgher women of old as a force to be reckoned with, Maudiegirl and the von Bloss Kitchen gives us lovable Maudiegirl, firmly ensconced at the centre of the von Bloss universe, her children and her neighbours, her stubbornness and her dedication to the running of her home, however crazy things may be, her home-brewed wisdom and, above all, her cooking. The recipes are a vital part of the book’s rich life, no less than the throbbing energies of railway Burgher families that Carl Muller renders with his inimitable gusto in this evocation of the von Bloss world. Carl Muller has paid his grandmother, upon whom the character of Maudiegirl is based, the greatest tribute ever.’’
(Penguin Books India) THE SENTINEL
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