MS. MEBEL GOES BACK TO THE CHOPPING BLOCK

A trophy wife gets dumped for a younger model.

The novel opens with 63-year-old Mebel Tanadi learning that, after 40 years of marriage, her husband, a Jakarta real estate tycoon, is leaving her for their 24-year-old chef. Mebel, who thinks of herself as “a traditional, uptight Chinese-Indonesian housewife,” doesn’t know who she is beyond Henk’s spouse. Well, no one can accuse Mebel Tanadi of giving up without a fight. She decides to spend a semester at culinary school in Paris, where she will learn to make “white people food” that will entice Henk to return to her. “That’s what he wants, isn’t it? A wife who can cook. That’s the entire reason he’s off with Wendy.” (Well…) But there’s a hitch with the “Paris” part of Mebel’s plan: She has actually registered for the Paris school’s sister school, and it’s located in a considerably less glamorous town outside Oxford, England. What’s more, Mebel didn’t expect to be the oldest-by-a-mile student, which makes her anxious. “No, that’s not possible,” she tells herself, “because trophy wives do not have social anxiety; they have Gucci.” But her jangled nerves are nothing compared with the heart palpitations caused by a rather George Clooney–esque chef. This book, which initially gives off strong rom-com vibes, ends up calling to mind the personal growth novels of second-wave feminism, and the result is a spirited story of comeuppance, intergenerational friendships, and second chances (“It’s time for you to enter your slut era,” one of Mebel’s culinary school friends informs her). Sutanto, who is behind the beloved Vera Wong mystery series, has created another unsinkable and unstintingly funny 60-something female character, and readers should derive much pleasure witnessing Mebel’s transformation from castoff wife into Chinese Indonesian Golden Girl.

Soufflé lightness, deliciously flavored with feminism.