A Gothic Paranormal Contemporary Rom-Com in the vein of The Menu (2022), AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (Agatha Christie, 1939), and Crimson Peak
Maya Tran, recent graduate from Columbia University's School of Journalism by day and paranormal erotica author by night, is sidelined from her internship at The Metropolitan Times after a professional misstep nearly ends her barely-bloomed career. Desperate to save her standing, she begrudgingly accepts a last-minute reassignment across the pond to report on the reclusive Dr. Adrian Harrow—a once-respected professor of Food Anthropology from the University of Oxford, who has since withdrawn from academic life under mysterious circumstances.
Among a slew of prestigious invitees chosen with no apparent rhyme nor reason, Maya arrives at St. Ewan's expecting a fluff story on elite dining culture and a much-needed vacation from city life off the coast of Cornwall. Instead, she finds herself upon a creeping isle and its gracious host, of whom she has become the sudden center of attention.
As the evening progresses, the boundaries between participant and observer begin to dissolve. Disappearances between courses keep influencer and luminary alike on their toes as Harrow's dinner reveals itself not as a social event, but a rigid, structured examination of appetite: of what individuals consume, what hunger reveals about them, and the lengths they will go for the last bite.
Maya Tran, recent graduate from Columbia University's School of Journalism by day and paranormal erotica author by night, is sidelined from her internship at The Metropolitan Times after a professional misstep nearly ends her barely-bloomed career. Desperate to save her standing, she begrudgingly accepts a last-minute reassignment across the pond to report on the reclusive Dr. Adrian Harrow—a once-respected professor of Food Anthropology from the University of Oxford, who has since withdrawn from academic life under mysterious circumstances.
Among a slew of prestigious invitees chosen with no apparent rhyme nor reason, Maya arrives at St. Ewan's expecting a fluff story on elite dining culture and a much-needed vacation from city life off the coast of Cornwall. Instead, she finds herself upon a creeping isle and its gracious host, of whom she has become the sudden center of attention.
As the evening progresses, the boundaries between participant and observer begin to dissolve. Disappearances between courses keep influencer and luminary alike on their toes as Harrow's dinner reveals itself not as a social event, but a rigid, structured examination of appetite: of what individuals consume, what hunger reveals about them, and the lengths they will go for the last bite.