From Ridgewood to the Afterlife

STOP IN AT A local Ridgewood coffee house, and you may see Daria Lavelle hunkered down behind her laptop, working on her latest novel.

This Village resident has recently captured the imagination of readers everywhere with her debut novel, “Aftertaste.” This spellbinding and supernatural tale explores loss and grief from an unexpected angle: the emotional impact of memories built around sharing food with the people we love. This evocative read balances a poignant love story with the inexplicable mysteries of the afterlife, featuring an array of ghosts and a curious menu of memories, all set against the backdrop of the New York City culinary scene.

Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Lavelle and her family emigrated to the United States when she was just two years old. After several years in New York, the family settled in Fair Lawn. Her love of books began early, leading her to earn a degree in comparative literature and a certificate in creative writing from Princeton before pursuing her Master of Fine Arts at Sarah Lawrence College. The journey to the publication of her book was on a slow burner for a time—much like the dishes in her story—until the flavors were just right.

“The idea first came to me in 2013,” she explains, recalling a vivid writing session. I had a day job in advertising, and after work, I’d go to a café to write. I saw this fully formed scene in my mind: a man plating a dish in a Hell’s Kitchen apartment and a beautiful, glittering ghost coming through the wall to eat the meal. It captivated me.”

It was a moment that stuck with her. Though she tucked the scene away in her mind, it lingered, resurfacing in fragments until the whole story began to take shape. Years later, when she pursued her MFA with a focus on speculative fiction—while simultaneously raising a young family—she started writing “Aftertaste” in earnest. “I entered the program when my kids were one,” she says. “I was determined to leave it with a manuscript I could put out into the world.”

The result is a novel that defies easy categorization. “It’s part love story, part ghost story, part food story,” Lavelle says. “It’s magical realism, or speculative fiction, where the world is familiar, but something extraordinary seeps into everyday life.”

Readers meet Kostya, a gifted young chef whose culinary creations hold the uncanny ability to bridge the gap between life and death. As his kitchen skills develop, and Kostya continues to explore the paranormal, he fails to realize the catastrophe looming in the afterlife—and the one person who tries to stop him is also falling in love with him.

Lavelle credits her love of fairytales and myths as formative influences. “I’ve always been obsessed with folklore about the afterlife,” she says. “Greek myths like Hades and Persephone, Orpheus and Eurydice—they shaped the way I think about love, longing and what lingers.”

The book’s title, “Aftertaste,” is perfectly apt. Each chapter lingers long after the final page is turned, and readers have written to Lavelle, sharing how the story helped them process their own grief or remember a loved one through the sensory memories of a shared meal. “That’s been the most rewarding part,” she says. “To know that something I imagined could be that meaningful to someone else.”

Though the novel deals with heavy themes, it’s also buoyed by Lavelle’s innate sense of humor and her talent for snappy, heartfelt dialogue. “I tend toward comedy and whimsy in my outlook on life,” she laughs. “There are lines in ‘Aftertaste’ that still make me laugh, even after reading them hundreds of times.”

“I’ve known since I was 15 that I wanted to be a writer,” Lavelle says. “Back then, books were having these huge cultural moments—“Harry Potter,” “Twilight,” “The Hunger Games.” Midnight release parties, themed food, games, people lining up at bookstores—it was exciting to see fiction have that kind of power. I wanted to be part of that world.”

Now, she is. Following the release of “Aftertaste,” Lavelle had the chance to celebrate with a book signing at Bookends bookstore in downtown Ridgewood. “It was incredible,” she says. “The support from this community—from the Newcomers Club to my mom friends at school— has been overwhelming in the best way.” She’s also traveled across the U.S. and to the U.K. to promote the book, with her publisher connecting her to enthusiastic bookstores and readers along the way.

True to form, much of “Aftertaste” was written and edited in Ridgewood’s many coffee shops and cafés. “I do my best thinking in the ambient noise of a coffee shop,” she smiles. “We’re so lucky to have so many great ones here.” (Editor’s note: We interviewed and photographed Daria at Black Magic Bakehouse on the west side of town— and yes, it was mouthwatering!)

Lavelle lives in Ridgewood with her family and is already hard at work on her second novel. “It’s still early, but this one is set in San Francisco in 1899, just after the Gold Rush,” she says. “It’s a magical realism love story about a woman who falls in love with a sailor on an enchanted ship. It’s about how long you’d wait for love—if it were the right person”.

Her stories may be touched with magic, but Lavelle’s journey is grounded in discipline, heart and a deep reverence for the emotional power of storytelling. As her star rises, Ridgewood can take pride in being home to a writer whose imagination brings speculative fiction—and all its wonder and mystery—vividly to life.

“Aftertaste” is available wherever books are sold, and personalized and signed copies are available through Bookends. For more information, visit darialavelle.com.

BY KRIS PEPPER