White Truffles in Winter: A Novel [Hardcover]

N. M. Kelby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2011

A breathtaking novel, rare and moving, about the world's greatest chef and his unruly heart.

White Truffles in Winter imagines the world of the remarkable French chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), who changed how we eat through his legendary restaurants at the Savoy and the Ritz. A man of contradictions—kind yet imperious, food-obsessed yet rarely hungry—Escoffier was also torn between two women: the famous, beautiful, and reckless actress Sarah Bernhardt and his wife, the independent and sublime poet Delphine Daffis, who refused ever to leave Monte Carlo. In the last year of Escoffier's life, in the middle of writing his memoirs, he has returned to Delphine, who requests a dish in her name as he has honored Bernhardt, Queen Victoria, and many others. How does one define the complexity of love on a single plate? N. M. Kelby brings us the sensuality of food and love amid a world on the verge of war in this work that shimmers with beauty and longing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Beautifully layered and lovingly detailed, White Truffles in Winter is a tale of extraordinary people entangled in a captivating love story. Filled with lush and decadent longing, this novel will dazzle the mind as well as the senses.” (Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Birds of Paradise: A Novel )

About the Author

N. M. Kelby is the critically acclaimed author of In the Company of Angels, Whale Season, and the Florida Book Award winner A Travel Guide for Reckless Hearts, among other works. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (November 7, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393079996
• ISBN-13: 978-0393079999
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #505,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

N.M.Kelby (Nicole Mary Kelby) has been translated into several languages and offered by The Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, and Quality Paperback Book Club. She is the recipient of a Bush Artist Fellowship in Literature, an NEA Inter-Arts grant, the Heekin Group Foundation's James Fellowship for the Novel, both a Florida and Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship in fiction, two Jerome Travel Study Grants, and a Jewish Arts Endowment Fellowship.

Her story "Jubilation, Florida" was selected for NPR'S "Selected Shorts," and recorded by Joanne Woodward for the CD Travel Tales, and reprinted in New Stories from the South: Best of 2006 (Algonquin Books).

www.nmkelby.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Richly detailed, sensual and fascinating November 27, 2011

By S. Corbett

Format:Hardcover

You have to love this man with all his strengths and weaknesses. Such an imaginative book based on facts. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and all the rich, vivid details of place and food. Escoffier is an important historical figure. The main points are facts: where he lived and worked, his wife, his mistress, and more. The author deftly filled in what his life could have been based on known facts she researched. It's a fascinating story about an unusual man.

For those with culinary interests, there are intriguing food tidbits, but the story can be enjoyed by anyone. Culinary students learn about Escoffier's important contributions to the way we eat today but may know little about his personal life.

Escoffier's housekeeper in late life and many famous people of the time are prominent in the book. Culinary folk will recognize the name of Brillat-Savarin, another brilliant chef. Both of them used truffles, caviar, and fois gras liberally in their creations, as well as wines -- the wines sometimes used to drug crayfish and lobsters before cooking. Many such charming details pepper the story.

Escoffier and his wife, Delphine Daffis, a poet, lived in Monte Carlo. Escoffier worked in Paris and England and was often away from home for months or years at a time; Delphine refused to move away from Monte Carlo.

A couple of lovely romantic seduction scenes involve food and are all the more sensuous and unusual for that. There are bits of other history and war history and the Titanic plays into the story as well.

I loved this book and those who like historical fiction should enjoy it. Culinary enthusiasts will relish the richness of details. Although we will never know who Escoffier really was, this book is a beautiful and realistic tapestry of who he might have been. The writing is a joy to read. It helps to know a little French but isn't necessary.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars THE WINTER OF ONE MAN'S LIFE November 19, 2011

By Red Rock Bookworm TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The first thing to remember when reading WHITE TRUFFLES IN WINTER by N.M. Kelby is that while the three central characters are "real" the story itself is the work of the author's rather vivid imagination. In it she conjures up a tale of food, love, and the love of food. Her imaginative journey into the life of food-obsessed chef, Auguste Escoffier, his unconventionally liberated wife, poet Delphine Daffis, and the "other woman" in his life - the bold, free-spirited Sarah Bernhardt is as delectable to one's reading palate as the dishes created by this amazing chef who pioneered French cuisine.

Being neither a gourmet cook nor an expert in fine dining, I was not personally familiar with the name Auguste Escoffier but discovered that I was, however, familiar with some of the dishes he created like Peach Melba and Cherries Jubilee (created for Queen Victoria) as well as some of the famous places where he plied his talent like The Ritz, The Carlton and The Savoy hotels.

The tale is basically told in retrospect by an aged Escoffier and combines the story of his unconventional love life with unusual recipes, related in a most uncommon manner. At times the recipes almost overwhelm the story as Kelby chooses to demonstrate Escoffier's compulsion for creating the new and unusual in an effusive and highly romanticized fashion. For this reader at least, some of this descriptive writing was a little "over the top" and flowery, however, it did convey the message that Escoffier could never really be as loving and devoted to any woman as he was to his first true love, food for which he abandoned family, friends and homeland.

Author Kelby presents an interesting take on the life of Escoffier and his many contributions to the art of cooking. Possibly his most important contribution can be appreciated by folks such as Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse, Gordon Ramsey, and their ilk since it was Escoffier who raised the bar, so to speak, in elevating the "cook" from the status of lowly servant to "chef", a respected and financially rewarding profession in addition to introducing the organized discipline necessary to successful restaurant kitchen management. Overall, this is a book that makes every reader consider their own relationship with food and whether it could every reach the level of obsession experienced by Escoffier.

One last question: Is the title of the book and it's placement in the novel a metaphor for the initial beauty and excitement of youth which we try in vain to preserve from the inevitable passing of time and of the ultimate decay and death which awaits us all?- 3 ˝ stars

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars This book surprised me December 6, 2012

By Okiegirl

Format:Paperback

I read this book as part of an around-the-world book reading challenge. I was expecting a so-so book but really enjoyed the audio version. The story of chef, Auguste Escoffier, and the two women he loved, his poetess wife, Delphine Daffis, and the actress, Sarah Bernhard. This is a book that foodies would enjoy as it contains some of Escoffier's recipes, plus quotations from his books.