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by Jesse Q Sutanto
A nearly divorced trophy wife enrolls in culinary school to win back her husband, only to find a fresh start in the unlikeliest of places in this new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.
Retirement should mean long-awaited trips to the sapphire waters of Santorini or careening down a sand dune in Dubai. For sixty-three-year-old Mebel, retirement means her husband of more than forty years announcing that he's leaving her for their private chef. Mebel isn't sure who's the bigger loss.
Not to worry, Mebel has the perfect plan: she's going to win back her husband. No one knows what he needs better than her—after all, she's been anticipating his needs their whole marriage. And if he wants a wife who can cook (why else would he leave her for a chef?), she will simply go to cooking school. And where better to learn to cook for your husband than France, the most romantic country in the world?
However, Mebel quickly learns that she has mistakenly enrolled in a culinary school not in glamorous Paris but rather in England—and in some small village outside of Oxford no less. Despite the less-than-warm welcome from her much younger classmates, Mebel manages to befriend Gemma, the breakout star of the program. And this unlikely friendship starts to show Mebel that maybe there's more to her than being the perfect trophy wife…
Jesse Q. Sutanto is the author of 16 other novels including the Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers series and the Dial A for Aunties series. Have you read any of her other titles?
Yes. I LOVE the Vera Wong series and the Dial A for Aunties series. I need to go and get her other books.
-Catrina_A
To what audience would you recommend Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block? Is there another book or author you feel has a similar theme or style?
Jesse Q. Sutanto fans who have read her Vera Wong novels will certainly enjoy Ms. Mebel. She employs the same level of lightheartedness and humor in this latest book.
-Susan_W1
Overall, what did you think of Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block? (No spoilers in this topic, please.)
I'm not exactly sure how to rate this book overall. I almost gave up on it early on—I really didn't like Mebel for much of the first part. At the same time, I understood that I wasn't necessarily supposed to like her, so I kept reading to see how Jesse Q. Sutanto might redeem her character. In th...
-Marge_K
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/23/2026)
So in the past week, I finished up two of our discussion books: https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/23263/ms-mebel-goes-back-to-the-chopping-block Ms Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q. Sutanto; and https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/i...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/16/2026)
...d for discussion next week, https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/23263/ms-mebel-goes-back-to-the-chopping-block Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q Sutanto, a fun, quick read. Currently reading https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/24694/john-of-john John of John by D...
-kim.kovacs
About the Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block category
...kBrowse for a discussion of https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/23263/ms-mebel-goes-back-to-the-chopping-block Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q Sutanto.
-kim.kovacs
"Sutanto keeps the pages turning with tight plotting and thoroughly enjoyable characters. Readers are in for a treat." —Publishers Weekly
"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." —Kirkus Reviews
"Sutanto's (Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)) heartwarming, feel-good story of a formerly entitled woman who learns she has desires of her own and is more than arm candy is laced with humor and will appeal to readers who enjoy stories of women reinventing themselves." —Library Journal
"The lessons beyond the kitchen about trust friendship, autonomy, resilience, (a little) revenge, and most importantly, her true self prove that even 'at sixty- three, there is still so much more to life, so many more things to discover.' Let's hope Sutanto brings Mebel back soon." —Booklist
This information about Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jesse Q. Sutanto is the award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of the Aunties and Vera Wong series along with several stand-alone thrillers. She grew up shuttling back and forth between Indonesia, Singapore, and Oxford, and considers all three places her home. She has a master's degree from Oxford University and a bachelor's from the University of California, Berkeley. Jesse currently lives in Jakarta with her husband and two young daughters.
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