Return to Paris - Colette Rossant

In APRICOTS ON THE NILE , Colette Rossant's best-selling memoir, we left her as a fifteen year old sailing away from her beloved Cairo to her mother's family in France. It is 1947 and Paris is recovering from the war. As soon as they arrive, Colette's mother abandons her yet again, leaving her with her bossy grandmother who finds Colette too Egyptian and her older brother who has turned into a stranger. Lonely, frightened and terribly homesick, Colette finds solace in the kitchen with the cook Georgette, and discovers a love for French food - the Sunday lunches of roasted lamb stuffed with garlic, springtime strawberries bathed in crme fraiche, the first taste of truffle in a restaurant on the Left Bank.And it is through food that Colette finds happiness in Paris, skipping school to go to the famous farmers' market in Port de Neuilly and dining in Michelin-starred restaurants with her new stepfather, a hotelier who shares her love of eating. Then at sixteen, she meets a dashing young American holidaying in the city - and, despite all opposition from her family, never looks back Filled with delectable recipes, RETURN TO PARIS is a moving, evocative memoir and food writing at its most sensual and vivid.