The secret life of a star chef.

Recently divorced and disillusioned by life, freelance journalist Desiree Swahn is handed a job by her new boss: to write a portrait of legendary star chef, Pierre Bernard. It’s an assignment far from the prestigious one she’d been promised. But Desiree and Pierre’s meeting will come to be more transformative than she could have ever imagined.

Pierre Bernard’s life hasn’t only been filled with culinary accomplishments, but also passionate love and heart-rending sorrow. He takes Desiree on a journey through time, from the Grand Hotel in Stockholm in the 1920s, to Paris and a war-torn London, to a Budapest in upheaval, and the most iconic wedding of the century. In Pierre’s stories, history is given scent, texture, taste. Desiree comes to know a man who has dedicated his life to discovering new culinary sensations, but has likewise sacrificed much. By the time the interview is over, everything has changed.

Salted Pearls is the debut fiction title of Michelin-starred chef Niklas Ekstedt and author Katarina Ekstedt.