White Truffles in Winter: A Novel (Platinum Readers Circle (Center Point))

by N. M. Kelby

Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935) was the renowned French chef and restaurateur who gave birth to the way we eat today. The heart of Escoffier’s story, however, lies in his love for two very different women: the beautiful, reckless actress Sarah Bernhardt and his wife, the poet Delphine Daffis. This lushly imagined novel transports us into Escoffier’s private world, weaving a sensual tale of food and longing, war and romance.

• ISBN10: 0393343588
• ISBN13: 9780393343588
• Publish Date: 25 May 2012 (first published 7 November 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: WW Norton & Co
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Artemis]

The Artemis Reader

White Truffles in Winter delights the senses in this tale of fiction and fact, about the life and loves of famed chef Auguste Escoffier. Based on the simplest of facts: where he lived, worked, his wife and children, his mistress, and contributions to the culinary world, author N.M. Kelby fills in the blanks in this imaginative story about an unusual man.

The book flips between “present” day Escoffier, an elderly man who has returned home to live out his days with his ailing wife, poet Delphine Daffis, and children, alongside his difficult young housekeeper, and Escoffier at significant points in his career. Cameos by actress Sarah Berndhart (also his mistress), Queen Victoria and countless others pepper each story about Escoffier’s life. This book was a clever mix of culinary and historical fiction, and although we will never know the true extent to which Escoffier lived out his life, this book was a beautiful portrait of who he might have been. Kelby is a wonderful writer and I look forward to more of her books.