Cooking for Picasso: A NovelFor readers of Paula McLain, Nancy Horan, and Melanie Benjamin, this captivating novel is inspired by a little-known interlude in the artist's life. "A tasty blend of romance, mystery, and French cooking."--Margaret Atwood, via Twitter 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 Caf 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: C line, 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, C line 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 C te d'Azur, and with the help of several eccentric fellow guests attending a rigorous cooking class at her hotel, C line discovers truths about art, culture, cuisine, and love that enable her to embrace her own future. Featuring an array of both fictional characters and the French Riviera's most famous historical residents, set against the breathtaking scenery of the South of France, Cooking for Picasso is a touching, delectable, and wise story, illuminating the powers of trust, money, art, and creativity in the choices that men and women make as they seek a path toward love, success, and joie de vivre. Praise for Cooking for Picasso "Intrigue, art, food, and deception are woven together in a tale of love and betrayal around the life and legacy of Picasso. Touching and true, this well-written narrative made me long for my mother's coq au vin and for the sun of Juan-les-Pins."--Jacques P pin, chef, TV personality, author "Intriguing and insightful, the sensory details alone will have you thinking you're reading the pages seated at a seaside caf in the South of France."--Susan Meissner, author of Secrets of a Charmed Life "[A] delicious, atmospheric novel . . . You'll be glad you're along for the ride."--People (Pick for "The Best New Books") "[A] colorful family saga . . . Cooking for Picasso is . . . about how people take what seems to be worthless and make it into something priceless. . . . The characters in Camille Aubray's debut novel illustrate . . . that value lies not in what you own, but in who you are."--The Washington Post "This richly crafted tale of love, trust, art and food is wonderfully evocative of the sun-kissed C te d'Azur, while weaving in a modern-day mystery. . . . Ideal for whiling away some time en vacances on the Riviera."--France Today "[A] sweet summer escape."--Cosmopolitan |
Contents
Section 1 | 3 |
Section 2 | 22 |
Section 3 | 30 |
Section 4 | 39 |
Section 5 | 45 |
Section 6 | 62 |
Section 7 | 77 |
Section 8 | 89 |
Section 24 | 250 |
Section 25 | 259 |
Section 26 | 265 |
Section 27 | 277 |
Section 28 | 280 |
Section 29 | 284 |
Section 30 | 296 |
Section 31 | 306 |
Section 9 | 113 |
Section 10 | 119 |
Section 11 | 127 |
Section 12 | 137 |
Section 13 | 151 |
Section 14 | 163 |
Section 15 | 170 |
Section 16 | 176 |
Section 17 | 185 |
Section 18 | 189 |
Section 19 | 203 |
Section 20 | 213 |
Section 21 | 226 |
Section 22 | 234 |
Section 23 | 240 |
Section 32 | 313 |
Section 33 | 321 |
Section 34 | 325 |
Section 35 | 328 |
Section 36 | 337 |
Section 37 | 343 |
Section 38 | 351 |
Section 39 | 355 |
Section 40 | 364 |
Section 41 | 369 |
Section 42 | 378 |
Section 43 | 381 |
Section 44 | 383 |
Section 45 | 389 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
already Antibes Arthur Aunt Matilda bedroom bicycle bouillabaisse breath Café Paradis called cassoulet Céline chef Clément cooking cupboard dark Deirdre door Dora Dora Maar dress Ducati dumbwaiter everything exclaimed eyes face father feeling finally floor French friends front gave gaze Gestapo Gil's girl glanced gone Grand-mère Grandma Ondine Grandmother Ondine hair hand head heard inside Juan-les-Pins Julie kissing kitchen knew lawyer look Luc's lunch Madame Belange Madame Sylvie maître d Maman Michelin star Minotaur Mom's Monsieur Renard mother Mougins moved never nodded Ondine felt Ondine thought Ondine's Pablo Pablo Picasso painting paused peered Picasso picked Provençal cuisine quickly Rick seemed she'd smile someone staring stopped suddenly sure tell terrace thing told took turned villa voice waiting watching What's whispered who'd window woman