Anthony Capella

Writer - fiction

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Books

Agent: Caradoc King
Assistant: Becky Percival

Books

Anthony Capella was born in Uganda, Africa in 1962. He was educated at St Peter’s College, Oxford, where he graduated with a First in English Literature. The Food of Love, his first novel, was a Richard and Judy Summer Read in the UK. It has been translated into nineteen languages. His second novel, The Wedding Officer, was another international bestseller. Both books have been optioned for the screen. His third novel, The Various Flavours of Coffee, was a WH Smith Read of the Week in the UK and a Target Breakout Selection in America. The Empress of Ice Cream came out in 2010 and Love and Other Dangerous Chemicals in 2012. 

Anthony Capella is one of many pseudonyms used by bestselling author Tony Strong.  

Fiction

Publication DetailsNotes

LOVE AND OTHER DANGEROUS CHEMICALS

2011

UK: Corvus US: Simon & Schuster; German: Rowohlt Taschenbuch

Dr Steven J. Fisher is fascinated by the elusive nature of the female orgasm, proclaiming it 'the last great unexplored territory.' But for all his scientific candour about human sexuality in the lab, Dr Fisher is really just a shy chemist who is a beginners in the ways of love.

Trock, a major pharmaceutical company, has sponsored his Oxford research team to develop the first pill to cure Female Sexual Dysfunction, and Dr Fisher is just weeks away from launching his miracle pill at their upcoming conference. When a beautiful and brilliant (and orgasmically challenged) PhD student named Annie begins participating in his study, everything Dr Fisher thinks he knows about women is turned on its head - and his research becomes more and more complicated with the addition of her perplexing data. Is it the pill making her feel this way, or is it love? What scientific phenomenon can explain the changes in his own feelings? With pressure mounting from the Trock, Annie's mystery must be solved by any means possible.

Cleverly presented through excerpts from Steven's clinical study and Annie's blog entries, LOVE AND OTHER DANGEROUS CHEMICALS gets to the heart of what makes us all tick, showing us that love is, in fact, all about chemistry.

THE EMPRESS OF ICE CREAM

2010

UK: Little, Brown; Bulgarian: Kragazoor;Hungarian: Geopen ;Indonesian : PT Gramedia; Portuguese: ASA;Slovene: Ucila; Italian: Ne

France 1670. Trained by his Persian master in the mysterious ways of ice, Carlo Demirco’s skill in this new art of creating ice creams has brought him wealth, women, and a position at the court of Louis XIV. Then Carlo is sent to London, along with Louise de Keroualle, an impoverished lady-in-waiting. The most powerful ministers of two countries have decided that Louise is to be Charles II’s new mistress, and will stop at nothing to make sure she submits. But Carlo too is fascinated by the enigmatic Frenchwoman. With the king’s every pleasure the subject of plots and betrayals, and Carlo’s only weapons his exquisite concoctions, soon he must decide…where do his loyalties lie?
From political intrigue in shadowy palace corridors to the lusty pleasures of frost fairs on the river, THE EMPRESS OF ICE CREAM is an absorbing and gorgeously detailed novel with a colourful cast of extraordinary characters: the King’s favourite Nell Gwyn, vicious and vivacious in equal measure; the racy, gossiping Lord Rochester; and presiding over this court of trysts and tensions, the inscrutable figure of the “merrie monarch” himself.

THE VARIOUS FLAVOURS OF COFFEE

2008

UK: Little, Brown; US: Bantam; Bulgarian: Kragazor; Chinese: Instars Multimedia; Dutch: Unieboek; German: Arche-Atrium; Hungaria

At the dawn of the twentieth century, young aesthete Robert Wallis finds himself in London, with an insatiable appetite for all of its decadent pleasures, and no money whatsoever. So when the peculiar coffee merchant Samuel Pinker offers him work, the job proves hard to turn down – especially once Robert has caught a glimpse of Pinker's beautiful daughter.

Analysing the subtle flavours of Arabicas and Moccas with the witty, thoroughly modern Emily Pinker, Robert finds himself falling in love with both the beans and the woman. But Samuel Pinker has greater plans for Robert in the cause of Commerce. As Robert's debts pile up, he is left with no option but to pursue a quest for his employer: he must seek and cultivate the finest coffee that exists, found only in the depths of Africa.

The anything-but-intrepid Robert sets off across the Empire, and the further he moves from home, the more irrevelant London life starts to seem. His memories of Emily Pinker seem insipid next to the exotic concoction that is the African slave girl, Fikre. Robert's love proves as changeable as his outfits: but in Africa the stakes are higher, and he is ill-equipped to deal with the repercussions of slavery and oppression.

COFFEE is the mouth-watering story of a drink, of a journey, and of a man coming to his senses. Filled with a sumptuous love of coffee and a masterful evocation of British life after Queen Victoria's death, COFFEE brings its foppish hero into a world where human beings are bought and sold, and where the price of a cup of coffee may be higher than its drinker can imagine. From the rural tribes of Abyssinia to the struggles of the English suffragettes, Robert embarks on a caffeine-fuelled journey of discovery in a fast-transforming world.

THE WEDDING OFFICER

2007

UK: Time Warner; US: Bantam; Bulgarian: Kragozor; Croatian: Algoritam; Czech (condensed): Vyber -Reader's Digest; Dutch: Unieboe

Naïve and already war-weary, James Gould takes up a position in Naples in 1943. What he doesn’t anticipate is that this involves a limited menu of fried Spam fritters and interrogating the would-be Italian fiancées of members of the armed forces. James’s chance at true heroism arrives when a German tank is sighted and he is caught in its path. However, it is the imperious and dogmatic Livia who opens the hatch and yells at him to stop being such an idiot.
Livia gladly becomes cook, translator and general factotum to James. The two begin to fall in love, but the eruption of Vesuvius triggers a chain of explosive events that will force the two to flee behind enemy lines and will alter their lives immeasurably.

After his mouth-watering antipasto THE FOOD OF LOVE, Anthony Capella presents a passionate, tender and deeply seductive primo piatto.

THE FOOD OF LOVE

2005

UK: Little Brown; US: Viking; Brazilian: Record; Bulgarian: Kragazor; Chinese: Instars Multimedia;Croatian: Algoritam (reverted)

Laura, a beautiful American art student is living in Rome. She adores the city but isn't so sure about Italian men. "Find yourself a chef", says one of her friends, "they're such sensual and sensitive lovers". So when the gorgeous Tomasso, who works at a Michelin-starred restaurant, chats her up and asks if he can cook dinner for her at his apartment, she eagerly accepts. But in reality Tomasso is only a waiter without a clue how to cook. It's his shy and stocky flat-mate, Bruno, who’s the real chef and who offers to help Tomasso out by cooking for him behind the scenes. Laura finds the food heavenly but the sex only average - and Tomasso isn't the only one who falls in love with her. Will Laura be able to see further than Tomasso’s smooth manner and dark good looks? Will she be able to seize upon the most important ingredient necessary for love – a true heart? THE FOOD OF LOVE is a delicious culinary romantic comedy which blends the flavours of CYRANO DE BERGERAC, CHOCOLAT and ROMAN HOLIDAY into an exquisitely original dish.