Julia: A Novel Inspired by the Extraordinary Life of Julia Child
Julia is biographical fiction that follows Julia Child from the 1940s until after her cooking show begins in 1963. An afterword describes the remainder of her life. The novel starts with wealthy Julia McWilliams, long graduated from Smith College, deciding what to do with her life. She tries to get into the WAC and the WAVES, but finds out that at 6’2”, she is too tall. She then ends up with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which would later become the CIA. She starts out in Washington D.C., but is eventually transferred to India, and then Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where she meets Paul Child, her future husband. After the war, Paul is working in Paris, where the food adventures of Julia Child begin.
This is lovely historical fiction that draws us into Julia’s world. While everyone knows about her cooking, the details of her life in the OSS, trusted with America’s secrets during WWII, are lesser known and very intriguing. The wealthy daughter of a real estate mogul and an heiress, Julia did not have to go to work during the war, but she wanted to serve her country. She grew up with a cook, and she and Paul frequented the restaurants of Paris. She did not have to learn to cook, especially at a prestigious French cooking school. She did the things she did out of passion, not necessity, and her warm, passionate personality comes alive in this book, as does her close, loving relationship with her husband, Paul. After the war, we follow Julia from the first days of cooking school to writing a cookbook and then hosting a television show. The book is well-researched, but it manages to stay warm and inviting, just as she was. Highly recommended.
