Food Person

Roberts’s rollicking debut chronicles the escapades of a timid food writer who ghostwrites a cookbook for an entitled and temperamental celebrity. Isabella Pasternak flounders after losing her job at a digital magazine, where she botched a soufflé demo during a live event on Instagram. Her perpetually frazzled friend Owen, whom she calls her “gay husband,” provides emotional support until she reluctantly accepts an offer from Owen’s talent manager father to ghostwrite a cookbook for scandal-plagued television actress Molly Babcock, who is clumsily “pivoting into the food space.” Isabella’s diligent work on the project proceeds despite Molly’s erratic behavior and indifference about the cookbook. Eventually, the pair find their groove, and Roberts portrays their collaboration with verve, just as he does with a subplot involving a romance between Isabella and a fetching sous chef. Equally entertaining are peripheral characters such as Molly’s sardonic sister and Isabella’s eccentric widowed mother, whose idea of a fun dinner is Marshmallow Fluff mixed with instant mashed potatoes. A few of the plot beats are implausible and silly, but a tragic third act hits hard. Roberts’s breezy and zany dramedy offers a fun take on the joy and business of cooking. Agent: Jenni Ferrari-Adler, Verve Talent & Literary. (May)