My Life in France

First Line:

At five-forty-five in the morning, Paul and I rousted ourselves from our warm bunk and peered out of the small porthole in our cabin aboard the SS America.

Description:

A memoir begun just months before Child's death describes the legendary food expert's years in Paris, Marseille, and Provence and her journey from a young woman from Pasadena who cannot cook or speak any French to the publication of her legendary Mastering cookbooks and her winning the hearts of America as "The French Chef."

Selected Reviews:

"Mr. Prud'homme...managed, by stitching together interviews and letters, to construct a coherent, fluid narrative, much of it edited by Child, that rings absolutely true to the sound of her voice. It is a wonderful picture of the most successful American export to France since Benjamin Franklin."

--William Grimes, New York Times