MURIEL Barbery wrote The Gourmet in 2000, but it was not translated from French until now, after the run-away success of a second novel, The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

Pierre Arthens, the greatest food critic in the world (in his own estimation), has 48 hours to live, after which, according to his doctor's peculiarly precise diagnosis, his heart will fail him.

He devotes that time to trying to capture a flavour that is "the first and ultimate truth of my entire life"; a flavour from childhood or adolescence, "a marvellous dish that predates my vocation as a critic, before I had any desire or pretension to expound on my pleasure in eating".

The story that reveals an unloving and unloved man is not all in Arthens' voice; his wife, children, the concierge and even his cat also have their say. Its deliciousness is in the striptease of revelation about his life and the evocative descriptions of the food up for, but failing, the ultimate flavour test - tomato, oysters, sashimi, a meal in Tangiers, a meal at his grandmother's.

It is a quick read - only 121 pages - something to whet your appetite, or serve as the sorbet refresher between weightier holiday reading.