The language of food

England 1835. Eliza Acton is a poet who dreams of seeing her words in print.

But when she takes her new manuscript to a publisher, she's told that 'poetry is not the business of a lady'. Instead, they want her to write a cookery book. That's what readers really want from women.

England is awash with exciting new ingredients, from spices to exotic fruits. But no one knows how to use them Eliza leaves the offices appalled. But when her father is forced to flee the country for bankruptcy, she has no choice but to consider the proposal.

Never having cooked before, she is determined to learn and to discover, if she can, the poetry in recipe writing. To assist her, she hires seventeen-year-old Ann Kirby, the impoverished daughter of a war-crippled father and a mother with dementia. Over the course of ten years, Eliza and Ann developed an unusual friendship - one that crossed social classes and divides - and, together, they broke the mould of traditional cookbooks and changed the course of cookery writing forever.