We chat with author Daria Lavelle about Aftertaste, which is an epic love story, a dark comedy, and a synesthetic adventure through food and grief.
Hi, Daria! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi there! It’s so nice to be here! I’m a speculative fiction writer and a lifelong foodie, and I approach storytelling and meals in much the same way—leaning on instinct more than outlines or recipes to make magic. I was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and raised in the NYC area, so have always gravitated towards narratives that feature characters crossing through different identities or experiences (or realities!). I speak three languages, am a mom of three, and spent three years writing Aftertaste (though the idea had been percolating for nearly ten), so you can bet I believe that good things happen in threes. I’m also highly superstitious, prone to puns, and obsessed with opera, Escape Rooms, and craft cocktails.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Reading and literature were always so important in my house—growing up, my parents read constantly, and encouraged me to read whatever interested me. I was obsessed with fairy tales as a young child, not only the standard European variety, but ones from Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa as well, and once I discovered fantasy—especially stories that began in our reality, but with elements of magic—I was hooked. The Giver, The Witches, and The Neverending Story were so formative for me, and as I got older, I loved creating my own stories. I’ve known since I was fifteen that I wanted to be a writer; I’d go home every day after school, and sit at this massive old computer my older brother had built for me, and write. I wrote my first (terrible) novel that way, printed it out, and sent it off to a publisher.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Picture Book—The Rainbow Fish; Chapter Book: A Little Princess
- The one that made you want to become an author: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Get in Trouble by Kelly Link
Your debut novel, Aftertaste, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Mouth-watering, mystical, thrilling, whimsical, heart-breaking.
What can readers expect?
Aftertaste is a propulsive ride through the New York culinary scene and the Afterlife. It’s a ghost story, a love story, and a food story centered around a man named Konstantin, who loses his dad at a young age and, in his grief, begins to taste the flavors of ghosts’ most meaningful meals. It follows his journey to open an NYC restaurant serving closure, never expecting to fall in love or to accidentally kinda sorta wreck the Afterlife in the process. It’s fun, and heartfelt, and heart-breaking, and healing. It tackles some heavy topics, including death and loss and grief, but balances them with the energy and magic of being in young and alive in New York City. It’s a love letter to food culture and restaurants, and includes some twists and turns I didn’t even see coming as I wrote it.
Where did the inspiration for Aftertaste come from?
Back in 2013, I had this scene just come to me, fully-formed (much in the same way that my main character, Konstantin, experiences his aftertastes, but I digress…) It was this guy in a Hell’s Kitchen apartment, plating a dish of food, very deliberately, and as he sets it onto the table, a glittering spirits passes through the pockmarked brick wall to eat it. I had so many questions—who was he? Who was the spirit? How did his food do that? Could he bring back anyone? What was this connection between food and spirits? (Pun always intended.)
It took me years to unpack the details of the story and to discover the idea of clairgustance, which was another gift from the universe (via a now-defunct Wikipedia article about the five psychic clairs), but blending these themes—and the worlds of food and ghosts—together just made absolute sense to me. I’m a person who has long been obsessed with eating and cooking, and growing up in the US while and eating Ukrainian food, I personally experienced many of the ways in which food could be so much more than just food—it’s a cultural tether; a connection to your ancestors; an occasional source of secret shame; a way of feeling like you don’t belong; but also, a way of sharing the innermost parts of yourself and your memories with another person. At its core, food is memory, and that’s exactly what a ghost is, too—a memory of a person that won’t let you go once they’re gone.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I LOVED, all caps, writing Frankie’s food tour. Food tours are always something I seek out on trips to a new place, because they help you understand the history and experience and vibe in miniature, and I think Frankie’s sections of the book—which are interspersed as interstitial chapters between Kostya’s main narrative—do that for this story; it’s at once a set piece from the food world, and a way to guide you in a behind-the-scenes way through what’s happening.
I also loved writing scenes in the various restaurants throughout the book—so many of them are inspired by some of my favorite places to eat in New York City, and getting to visit and reimagine them through the novel was a joy.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Maura’s scenes were sometimes challenging to write because she’s a character who keeps a lot of secrets, most of which we don’t explicitly learn until about three quarters of the way through the book. Any scene that came earlier had to balance what she knew but wouldn’t say with what other characters thought or assumed about her, but in a way that also hinted to the reader that there was something more at play to help build tension. It took a lot of revisions and getting really clear about what she knew, and when, and how that interacted with the main narrative, to get it right.
This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
Publishing a novel has been a dream for the majority of my life, and though the path to get here was long (and sometimes winding) it was worth every rejection it took to make it to this moment. I wrote my first novel when I was 15, then wrote and queried two more in the YA space over the next ten-ish years, which wound up getting agented but died on sub. At that point I was working in advertising in Manhattan, and writing in cafes in the evenings, and the seeds of Aftertaste first started to take root. That was around 2013, but it wasn’t until I was in an MFA program at Sarah Lawrence that I started to write it as a novel in earnest. I drafted from 2020 to 2022, then signed with my amazing agent, Lucy Carson, in early 2023, and we worked on revisions through the summer and went on sub in the fall. The response was unreal; Aftertaste sold internationally, at auction in the US, and the rights were acquired for film, all in the course of two weeks. I am the luckiest ever to get to work with the brilliant teams at Simon & Schuster in the US, Bloomsbury in the UK, and Sony on the film front, and to have them championing this story. It’s the most thrilling experience, and I still almost don’t believe it’s real.
What’s next for you?
First and foremost, I’m hoping that Aftertaste finds all the readers it was meant for, and that I get to see this special story brought to life on the silver screen!
On the writing front, I’m excited to be working on a new project; it’s a little bit secret (maybe?) since it’s very early days, but it’s also speculative fiction, set in San Francisco, and takes place over an extended timeline, beginning at the turn of the century in 1899. It’s about a woman who falls for a sailor on an enchanted ship, and like Aftertaste, it plays with multiple genres—this time, historical fiction intertwined with myth and fairy tale, and anchored by an epic love story.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
I have been rapidly (vampirically?) awaiting Bury Our Bones In The Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab, and I am foaming at the mouth for Kerry Cullen’s House of Beth. I have a copy of The Antidote by Karen Russell on my bedside table that I can’t wait to inhale.
