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Shop nowAppetite for Life
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Learn moreMeet the woman behind the apron in Noël Riley Fitch’s revealing biography of America’s favorite cook: Julia Child.
A household name, Julia Child has entered the hearts of millions of Americans through their kitchens. Yet few know the richly varied private life that lies behind this icon. Fitch takes us from her exuberant youth through her years at Smith College, where Julia was at the center of every prank and party. When most of her girlfriends married, Julia volunteered with the OSS during World War II and was an integral part of the elite corps. There, she met her future husband, Paul Child, who introduced her to the glories of fine French cuisine, art, and love.
Julia invested ten years of learning and experimentation in what would become her first bestselling classic, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Now her career is one of legend, spanning over half a century. Hers was a truly American life.
Noël Riley Fitch is the author of Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation: A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties and Anaïs: The Erotic Life of Anaïs Nin, as well as other books chronicling the French-American artistic experience. She lives with her husband in Los Angeles and on the Left Bank in Paris. She has one grown daughter.
Wanda McCaddon (a.k.a. Nadia May or Donada Peters) has narrated well over six hundred titles for major audiobook publishers, has earned numerous Earphones Awards, and was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine.
Reviews
“This book brilliantly profiles Julia Child’s gargantuan spirit and joie de vivre. Her genius as a cooking teacher is almost an aside; it’s her sheer exuberance for living that could teach us all a few things. It’s no wonder America has long been having a mad love affair with Julia.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed reading Appetite for Life...Our admiration and love for Julia grows stronger as we keep reading...The narration reads like a thriller, vivid and engrossing...This well-written, lively tale brings to life a complex, multifaceted personality, endearing, and, at times, heroic.”
“Fitch’s richly detailed biography of Child describes how a plainspoken woman who loved food inspired millions to pick up a whisk and make a fine French dinner from scratch.”
“Makes Julia [Child’s] evolution from high-security clerk to cook to writer to star an incredible adventure.”
“[Wanda McCaddon’s] lively reading brings the world of Julia Child—“the French Chef”—to life...Her zest for her subject, as well as her subject's engaging life, keeps the listener engrossed and satisfied as she artfully mimics Julia's high, shrill voice and maintains an even pace throughout.”
“No one person in the US improved the nation’s standard of eating more than Julia Child…[Fitch makes] both Childs’ personalities come alive, from Paul’s meticulousness to Julia’s exuberant, even bawdy, gusto.”
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