The Secret War of Julia Child

By Diana R. Chambers

Book Overview

An instant international bestseller and a USA Today bestseller

A Washington Post Best Historical Fiction Book of 2024

A People magazine Best Book of Fall

A New York Post Book of the Week

Before she mastered the art of French cooking in midlife, Julia Child found herself working in the secrets trade in Asia during World War II, a journey that will delight both historical fiction fans and lovers of America's most beloved chef, revealing how the war made her into the icon we know now.

Single, 6 foot 2, and thirty years old, Julia McWilliams took a job working for America's first espionage agency, years before cooking or Paris entered the picture. The Secret War of Julia Child traces Julia's transformation from ambitious Pasadena blue blood to Washington, DC file clerk, to head of General "Wild Bill" Donovan's secret File Registry as part of the Office of Strategic Services.

The wartime journey takes her to South Asia's remote front lines of then-Ceylon, India, and China, where she finds purpose, adventure, self-knowledge - and love with mapmaker Paul Child. The spotlight has rarely shone on this fascinating period of time in the life of ("I'm not a spy") Julia Child, and this lyrical story allows us to explore the unlikely world of a woman in a World War II spy station who has no idea of the impact she'll eventually impart.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1464219044
• ISBN13: 9781464219047
• Release Date: October 2024
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Future Chef Is a Current Spy

Imagine it! Chef Julia Child as a spy… First encountering Julia Child when PBS ran her cooking show as a rerun and then later spying her life’s magnum opus, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I was excited to be taken back, through Diana Chambers’ artful writing style to WWII when Julia worked for America’s secret service, the OSS, and first encountered adventure and the love of her life. Foremost to keep in mind, The Secret War of Julia Child is historical fiction. For certain, Chambers painted in the details in color and shadow so that this was part ‘this is how it was for real’ and ‘this could have been true’. An intriguing tale of high adventure for an unlikely heroine. I had no trouble with blending the real life Julia Child of my mind’s eye with Chambers’ sensitive, full of joie de vivre-filled, and quietly intrepid younger version, Julia McWilliams. The story begins in Washington DC when Julia is the secretary to the real life founder of the OSS (America’s CIA predecessor) “Wild Bill” Donovan and she dreams of becoming one of his operatives and not just a paper pusher for this war. She gets her chance when he sends her to India to set up the regional OSS office and an even more secret directive to spy on their allies the British to determine if they are as solid as it seems. The voyage out and first days in India are a crash course in the uncertainty of war and survival. There are transfers to other exotic locales and further adventures. This eye-opening first chance in the field is so much more than she expected with lessons learned coming right and left including lessons in love and relationships. Taking its time over the course of the war situation in southeast Asia, I was tantalized with details of her secret work, unexpected spy adventures, and Julia’s personal life which also served to showcase the perilous real life of that place and period. She was parts scared and parts shocked by conditions in the field and for those enduring a war in their lands. I greatly appreciated that local color and people populated this book along with Julia’s exploits. The Secret War of Julia Child is a brilliant star in WWII Fiction and Romance on the Asian front that other readers will definitely want to pick up. As Julia would always sign off her program, Bon Appetit!