From Amazon:
The French Riviera, spring 1936: It’s off-season in the lovely seaside village of Juan-les-Pins, where seventeen-year-old Ondine cooks with her mother in the kitchen of their family-owned Café Paradis. A mysterious new patron who’s slipped out of Paris and is traveling under a different name has made an unusual request—to have his lunch served to him at the nearby villa he’s secretly rented, where he wishes to remain incognito.

Pablo Picasso is at a momentous crossroads in his personal and professional life—and for him, art and women are always entwined. The spirited Ondine, chafing under her family’s authority and nursing a broken heart, is just beginning to discover her own talents and appetites. Her encounter with Picasso will continue to affect her life for many decades onward, as the great artist and the talented young chef each pursue their own passions and destiny.

New York, present day: Céline, a Hollywood makeup artist who’s come home for the holidays, learns from her mother, Julie, that Grandmother Ondine once cooked for Picasso. Prompted by her mother’s enigmatic stories and the hint of more family secrets yet to be uncovered, Céline carries out Julie’s wishes and embarks on a voyage to the very town where Ondine and Picasso first met. In the lush, heady atmosphere of the Côte d’Azur, and with the help of several eccentric fellow guests attending a rigorous cooking class at her hotel, Céline discovers truths about art, culture, cuisine, and love that enable her to embrace her own future.

- Biographical Historical Fiction Lovers
- Family Saga Lovers
- Chick Lit Lovers
- Art Lovers

- This book has the perfect combination of humor, romance, and mystery.

- This book is well researched. I loved reading the background of some of Picasso's paintings. I learned a few new things.

- The author describes the settings with such detail that I could clearly see the foreign locations in my mind. She has a gift of engaging all of the senses.

- This book does have alternating time periods but is written in such a way that it didn't confuse me like most back and forth timelines do. Instead, the parallel stories worked seamlessly to enhance the plot.

- Celine, her mother, and her grandmother are a trio of women that are often underestimated. The author shows just how strong each of them can be when the cards are on the table.

- The plot was unpredictable. There may not be a major twist, but there are certainly a few fun curves to keep you on your toes.

From Amazon:
Camille Aubray is an Edward F. Albee Foundation Fellowship winner. A writer-in-residence at the Karolyi Foundation in the South of France, she was a finalist for the Pushcart Press Editors’ Book Award and the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. She studied writing at the University of London with David Hare, Tom Stoppard, and Fay Weldon; and with her mentor Margaret Atwood at the Humber College School of Creative Writing Workshop in Toronto. Aubray has been a staff writer for the daytime dramas One Life to Live and Capitol, has taught writing at New York University, and has written and produced for ABC News, PBS, and A&E. The author divides her time between Connecticut and the South of France.

It's a damn good book.

Some of Picasso's background and the history of a few of his paintings isn't exactly explicit, but I was startled to learn a few things. I think the author handled it tastefully without glossing over the importance.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Cooking for Picasso: A Novel   from Amazon.Com!

Created Jul 19, 2019 at 3:56pm • Submit your own review...