Destined to be a book club favourite - an utterly charming and entirely delicious novel of love, art and food, with a dash of French Riviera sunshine. Juan-les-Pins, the French Riviera, 1936: Ondine is a sixteen-year old girl working at her family's cafe when she is called upon to cook for Picasso, who has secretly rented a nearby villa. Picasso is successful, powerful, virile - yet he is also a man beset by his own demons, and he's at a great crossroads in his personal and professional life. The spirited Ondine is just ...
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Destined to be a book club favourite - an utterly charming and entirely delicious novel of love, art and food, with a dash of French Riviera sunshine. Juan-les-Pins, the French Riviera, 1936: Ondine is a sixteen-year old girl working at her family's cafe when she is called upon to cook for Picasso, who has secretly rented a nearby villa. Picasso is successful, powerful, virile - yet he is also a man beset by his own demons, and he's at a great crossroads in his personal and professional life. The spirited Ondine is just beginning to discover her own talents and appetites, and she quickly blossoms in many ways from her encounter with Picasso - each inspires the other. New York, 2016: Celine, Ondine's American granddaughter, decides to embark on a journey to the French Riviera in a quixotic quest to do what her fragile mother Julie is no longer able to do - that is, to find out what really happened when her grandmother Ondine crossed paths with the great Picasso ...and possibly recover a lost family treasure. To carry out her quest, Celine takes her mother's place in a cooking class at an elegant Provencal farmhouse, run by Gil, a mercurial English master chef who is wildly talented but doesn't suffer fools and has demons of his own. Set against the sensual sun-infused Cote d'Azur, Cooking for Picasso is a captivating, wise and entirely delicious novel of desire, trust, art and food - and the important choices that we all face in our journey towards love, success and joie de vivre. 'A quest for the missing Picasso worthy of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn ...An amuse-bouche filled with secret ingredients, covert liaisons, and hidden compartments' Kirkus Reviews 'Serving up an irresistible feast of art, cuisine and hidden treasures on the French Riviera, Aubray brings Picasso brilliantly to life. Her intriguing, intertwined narratives of Celine, her mother and brave grandmother are utterly spellbinding and deeply touching. This delightful, triple-layered mystery is something as rare as a page-turner with soul.' Anne Fortier, bestselling author of Juliet ...
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Seller's Description:
Fair. This is a former library book with stickers, inserts and markings. May have some shelf-wear due to normal use. Your purchase funds free job training and education in the greater Seattle area. Thank you for supporting Goodwill's nonprofit mission!
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Seller's Description:
The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact (including the dust cover, if applicable). Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.
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Seller's Description:
Fair. The item is very worn but continues to work perfectly. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing (age related spots and browning). May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.
I enjoyed this fictional take on how Picasso might have been, given his track record with women. With the current atmosphere of "Times up" and anti-sexual harrasment movement, Picasso would be in a real pickle. I loved the author's management of time. As I first began it was very French formulaic and thought I would be dissapointed, it went on a positive crescendo. Not a literary masterpiece at all, but a well developed fictional novel. An entertaining read, a page turner towards the end.
