The Incompetent Cook
I did the illustrations for The Incompetent Cook by Ivor Thomas. Here is the blurb from the back of the book and the Introduction, straight from Ivor himself:
"The Incompetent Cook is a novel made up of ten short stories. Together they form a single narrative about a reluctant adventurer who travels the world on a quest to find the compass-bearing that he believes will set the direction for his life. Along the way, fate ambushes him with a sequence of quixotic predicaments that become milestones in his development.
Sometimes thriller, sometimes black comedy, sometimes boy's own adventure, The Incompetent Cook is a cruise full of oddballs and ruffnecks, prize-fighters, crooked cops, American Indians, drunken sailors, kidnapping and all kinds of skulduggery. Adding a unique twist to this smorgasbord of action, plot and human singularity, food plays a part in each episode: like in Australia where a kidnapper is saved from jail on account of his lamb shanks with a ragout of mushrooms; or in Israel where a single recipe gets the story-teller a job as cook on board a cargo vessel. (The recipes are provided.)
These quirky reminiscences are told with a laid-back humour and fluid simplicity that carry the reader effortlessly through the curls and coils of some tantalising plots and hilarious situations. It's a 'feel-good'experience. Read it in a hammock under a palm tree"
Click the thumbnails for a better look. And to get a copy of the book click here.