With the Cookbook Club at Chapter One proving popular, cookbooks have been on my mind here, with thoughts like ‘ Are they a wanton extravagance with so many recipes online in various forms?’ and ‘But isn’t it joyous to flick through a cookbook at your leisure, enjoying photos, assessing ingredients and imagining pleasure from the eating?’

Then I read about this cookbook, The Evin Prison Bakers’ club, which comes out tomorrow. Renowned foreign correspondent Christina Lamb, writing in the Sunday Times describes how the author, Sepiden Gholian, has spent much of the past 6 years in jail in Iran, for offences like removing her hijab in public.

The Evin House of Detention is one of the most notorious prisons in the world, brutal and horrific, with 15,000 prisoners in it. But somehow on the women’s political wing, they’ve acquired an oven, some cooking utensils and a baking tin. This book contains 16 recipes each dedicated to a woman prisoner, either in memory or who currently serves a sentence there. Some of the recipes are accompanied by song suggestions for while you cook, and there are tips on how to cook in prison.

Christina Lamb writes: ‘this book is a remarkable testimony to women’s bravery, compassion and solidarity in the harshest of conditions, an account of irrepressible women refusing to be worn down amid torture, sexual abuse and repeated interrogations, showing defiance through a joy in baking — think Nigella crossed with Nelson Mandela.’

And: ‘if you want a sense of its humour and bravery in the face of adversity, just read this line: “If you encounter problems with the recipes in this book and I’m not in prison at the time, please notify me on Instagram or X.”’

The Evin Prison Bakers Club comes out tomorrow, April 10th and we can’t wait to order it here!

The next cookbook club is at 4pm Thursday April 10th, where attendees will chat about their favourite cookbooks, and everyone is welcome.