Well renowned as the undisputed master of French cooking what is not very well known is her career in the field of intelligence during WWII. With the outbreak of the War, and when America got dragged into the effort, Julia was not one to stay on the sidelines. She knew she could help and with her intelligence and meticulous methods she soon secured a very important role in intelligence in the Far east. Starting with Ceylon which is breathtakingly described in this book her travels take her far and wide.
Her love for Paul Childs was immense and loyal and she followed him wherever he was stationed. Her love for cooking was a very late start in her life, but like everything else she did Julia gave it her all, not allowing repeated failures to slow her down. Paul and Julia were gourmet cooks and eaters and loved their food. Her efforts to make French cooking available to all, was laudable because she was dealing with an America which did not know about cooking with asparagus, mushrooms, crème fraiche and the travails of French flour!
The book dealt in detail about history and the need for intelligence services during war and then devolved into cooking and how Julia Child, almost single-handedly changed the way Americans looked at French cooking.
I loved the writing style of the author and the depth she carried it in portraying the woman Julia Child.
Sent by Shadow Mountain Publishing for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley
She certainly led a very interesting life!
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