Cooking for Picasso

Cooking for Picasso by Camille Aubray  400 pages

I’m not a Picasso fan, but I am a foodie. The “Cooking” in the title is what initially drew me to this novel. When reading the back cover, I was hooked. The first sentence tells me that this novel is “for readers of Paula McLain, Nancy Horan, and Melanie Benjamin”---three of my favorite authors. Further on I learn that there are dueling timelines (1936 and present day). I adore dueling timelines. So I settled in for an awesome read and was not disappointed.

Cooking for Picasso takes place during a little-known episode in Picasso’s life in 1936. He’s not burned out or blocked; the art just isn’t coming. He sneaks away to a seaside village on the French Riviera, Juan-les-Pins. He hires one of the local cafés to provide lunch for him, provided they can keep his secret.

At the Café Paradis, seventeen-year-old Ondine works with her mother in the kitchen. Daily, her mother sends her to Picasso’s villa with the meal and strict instructions to not speak to him. Ondine is also directed to keep a notebook of what he like and doesn’t like.

Eighty years later, Celine has come from Los Angeles to spend the holiday with her mother, Julie, in Connecticut.  During their conversations, Celine learns that her grandmother had cooked for the infamous artist. Her mother also gives her the notebook that Ondine kept, and alludes to a unknown painting that Picasso had given her.  

Julie had planned to go on a cooking holiday with her sister-in-law, Matilda. Julie has a stroke and is unable to travel to France, her mother’s land, so Celine goes instead.

The plot eaves back and forth between 1936 and current time, but it is mostly Ondine’s story. Still this family saga about three generations of women was simply unputdownable! Part mystery, part treasure hunt, part love story, part travelogue, parts food and art, Cooking for Picasso is a novel that pulls in readers from the beginning and doesn’t let go until the end.

A number of plot twists left me surprised (yeah!). I was disappointed when the story ended. The only missing from this riveting tale was some of Ondine’s recipes.

Cooking for Picasso receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. I received this novel in exchange for this review from Blogging for Books.