Cooking For Picasso

(Paperback)

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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

http://www.camilleaubray.com

Reviews

"A tasty blend of romance, mystery, and French cooking."--Margaret Atwood, via Twitter

"[A] colorful family saga . . . Cooking for Picasso [is] a novel about how people take what seems to be worthless and make it into something priceless. Whether it's a woman who creates meaning from sad circumstances or a genius who finds his way through a fallow period to create his masterwork, the characters in Camille Aubray's novel illustrate how essential bad is to good, life is to death and work is to art. . . . Aubray slowly reveals that value lies not in what you own, but in who you are."--The Washington Post

[A] delicious, atmospheric novel. You'll be glad you're along for the ride.--People

"This touching and delectable novel invokes the breathtaking scenery of the South of France and the Cote d'Azur. . . . Aubray paints a beautiful story of love, art, food, and the enduring romance of the Mediterranean."--Fodor's Travel

"[A] sweet summer escape."--Cosmopolitan

"With lively characters and a twisting plot, Aubray's novel is a smart and satisfying tale of family, creativity, romance and intrigue."--Booklist

"This richly crafted tale of love, trust, art and food is wonderfully evocative of the sun-kissed Cte d'Azur, while weaving in a modern-day mystery. . . . Ideal for whiling away some time en vacances on the Riviera."--France Today

"Two delicious love stories held together by the bonds of family unfold through Aubray's lyricalprose as she paints a portrait of Southern France, haute cuisine and the thrilling hunt for a missing masterpiece. With the skill of an artist, she describes Picasso at a crossroads in his life."--Romantic Times

An entertaining getaway for art lovers and Francophiles . . . The novel's descriptions of food are mouthwatering, and Picasso himself is bold and engaging, a man of outsized passions.--Shelf Awareness

Charming.--Muses & Visionaries

"Aubray produces a vivid and interesting picture of Picasso and doesn't shy away from his personal entanglements."--Historical Novels Review

In this delightful journey, a woman's kitchen skills blossom while Picasso struggles with the next steps in his career.--BookBub

Romance cum mystery--full of art, family bickering, and of course, fabulous food--fully enjoyable."--Audiofile

"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 Ppin, chef, TV personality, author

Author Bio

Camille Aubray is an Edward Albee Foundation Fellowship winner, and was a writer-in-residence at the Karolyi Foundation in the South of France. She was also a finalist for the Pushcart Press Editors' Book Award and the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. She studied writing with her mentor Margaret Atwood at Humber College Writers' Workshop in Toronto. Aubray was a staff writer for the daytime dramas "One Life to Live" and "Capitol," has taught writing at New York University, and wrote and produced for ABC News, PBS, and A&E.