My Life in France
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| Author | Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Autobiography |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
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Publication date
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2006 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 317 pp (Knopf hardcover edition) |
| ISBN | (Knopf hardcover edition) |
| OCLC | 61821870 |
| 641.5092 B 22 | |
| LC Class | TX649.C47 A3 2006 |
My Life in France is an autobiography by Julia Child, published in 2006. It was compiled by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme, her husband's grandnephew, during the last eight months of her life, and completed and published by Prud'homme following her death in August 2004.
In her own words, it is a book about the things Julia loved most in her life: her husband, France (her "spiritual homeland"), and the "many pleasures of cooking and eating." It is a collection of linked autobiographical stories, mostly focused on the years between 1948 and 1954, recounting in detail the culinary experiences Julia and her husband, Paul Child, enjoyed while living in Paris, Marseille, and Provence.
The text is accompanied by black-and-white photographs taken by Paul Child, and research for the book was partially done using family letters, datebooks, photographs, sketches, poems and cards.
My Life in France provides a detailed chronology of the process through which Julia Child's name, face, and voice became well known to most Americans.
The book also contains an extremely detailed index cataloging every person, place, ingredient, recipe, topic and event discussed.
Julia's first descriptions and impressions of Paris, France. Julia reminisces about the Childs' search for an apartment in Paris, Paul's job with the USIA, and their exploration of Paris' restaurants. Julia's sister Dorothy's visits.
Julia excitedly describes the sole meunière lunch she savored in Rouen the day of their arrival, and which sparked her obsession with French cuisine, her "epiphany".
Julia signs up for cooking classes at the École du Cordon Bleu, and has many disagreements with the school's owner, Madame Brassart, but her cooking improves. Paul says that "All sorts of délices are spouting out of [Julia's] finger ends like sparks out of a pinwheel..."
She makes:
The Childs learn that television is sweeping the States, head to England for Christmas, and Julia recounts her and Paul's family histories, and courtship. Julia attempts (and fails) the Cordon Bleu final exam.
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