The Telling Room

Starred review from May 20, 2013
Working as a proofreader on the newsletter for his local deli, Paterniti stumbled upon the story of a sublime cheese, Páramo de Guzmán (named after the family village from which it originates), that the deli’s owner discovered by chance in London. Made from the fresh milk of Churra sheep, “the cheese was submerged, after its first aging, in extra-virgin olive oil and aged again, for at least a year.” Intrigued by the story, as well as by the craft and love that went into making the cheese, Paterniti sets off on a quest to find the creator of Páramo de Guzmán and to listen to his story. Over the course of a decade, Paterniti (Driving Mr. Albert) visits Ambrosio Molino’s contador, or telling room (a space in a handmade cave that in earlier times functioned as cold larders for individual families and villages), listening raptly as the cheese maker recounts a tale both joyous and sad, of discovery, betrayal, revenge, and restoration. Much as Molinos regales Paterniti with his rich voice, Paterniti entertains us by retelling this saga of a man who successfully recovers his family’s cheese recipe, whose childhood friend betrays him by stealing the business, and who half-heartedly seeks revenge for the betrayal. Yet, this is also Paterniti’s story: “Ambrosio gave me a brief glimpse of a different, compelling sort of life, a life in which there seemed to be more time for family and conversation, for stories and food.” So in 2012 Paterniti moved his family to Guzmán. Paterniti’s zestful storytelling carries us along on a delightful journey through a village rich with the traditions of food and family. Agent: Sloan Harris, ICM.

May 15, 2013
A beguiling, multifaceted narrative larded with delightful culinary, historical, political, psychological and literary layers, set in the kingdom of Castile with a piece of cheese in the starring role. Paterniti (Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain, 2000) gracefully unravels how tradition, culture and a sense of place affect the human heart, while simultaneously wrestling with the joys and boundaries of storytelling and journalism. During a 1991 proofreading stint at a deli, following his graduation from the University of Michigan's creative writing program, the author read a paragraph describing a "sublime" cheese from Castile. "There was something about all of it, not just the perfection of Ari's prose," writes Paterniti, "but the story he told--the rustic cheesemaker, the ancient family recipe, the old-fashioned process by which the cheese was born, even the idiosyncratic tin in which it was packaged--that I couldn't stop thinking about." Years later, the author, determined to find the storied cheesemaker and learn his tale, set off for Spain on what became a 10-year odyssey. Paterniti rapidly fell under the spell of the loquacious cheesemaker, Ambrosio, and the tiny village of Guzman, situated in the "vast, empty highlands of the Central plateau of Spain." At the center of the narrative is the saga of betrayal of Ambrosio and his artisanal cheese by his boyhood friend, Julian. Paterniti's quest for the true story surrounding the creation and demise of Ambrosio's cheese rambles in delightful directions. The author probes subjects as diverse as the first human encounter with cheese; an investigation into the origin of Pringles; geology; and Spanish "legends, farces and folktales." Enriched by Paterniti's singular art of storytelling, this is a deeply satisfying voyage across a remarkable landscape into the mysteries and joys of the human heart.

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June 1, 2013
Working at renowned Zingerman's Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Paterniti discovered a fabulously tasty Spanish sheep's milk cheese unlike any other. A writer by trade, Paterniti found himself fascinated by this cheese, and he embarked on a quest to find its birthplace in Castile, a small town some distance from Madrid. There he met a hulking man with a fondness for storytelling. Since Paterniti already had a predilection for tales, he became utterly entranced with this cheese-making Spaniard, Ambrosio Molinas de las Heras, who had won numerous awards and garnered kudos even from Fidel Castro. But by the time Paterniti reached him, Molinas had shut down production. Molinas' entrepreneurial navet' and betrayal by a business partner had bankrupted the fledgling company. Paterniti's detailed narrative overflows into long, digressive footnotes, but the story of dashed hopes will resonate with lovers of cheese and of rural Spanish life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)