The Secret War of Julia Child
Before Julia Child was Julia Child, she was Julia McWilliams, who served in the OSS (predecessor of the CIA) in the Far East during World War II. Afterwards she always claimed she was just a file clerk, but in Diana R. Chambers’ exciting new novel, she is an active secret agent whose adventures help win the war in Asia. Although Chambers emphatically declares this is a work of fiction, she has done extensive research on the places and the times and produces a convincing picture of wartime Washington, DC; India; Burma (Myanmar); Ceylon (Sri Lanka); and China, where Julia Child did indeed operate. Did she really work with the famous Wild Bill Donovan? Yes, he was certainly her boss. Did she really encrypt messages, unmask moles, swim ashore from a shipwreck in the Bay of Bengal, survive by “drinking” fish caught with her bare hands, outwit Japanese soldiers while sneaking through the jungle, survive a plane crash in the Himalayas, and uncover Army thievery in China?
Perhaps not, but these exploits, based on actual wartime events, make thrilling reading. What is true is that she met her husband, Paul Child, during her service in Asia, where he was a mapmaker for the OSS while she was a “file clerk.”
Chambers paints an interesting, complex portrait of Paul Child along with a scintillating one of intrepid, 30-year-old Julia, six foot two and afraid she’ll be single and underemployed forever. We know better, of course, but Chambers successfully creates suspense, drama, conflict, and a happy ending for her—well before Julia discovered the art of French cooking, and the rest became not enjoyable fiction but delightful cultural history.
