Showing posts with label Ann Mah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ann Mah. Show all posts

Sunday, July 7, 2024

Jacqueline in Paris - A Novel . By Ann Mah.-2022 - 322 Pages-A Paris in July 2924 Work


 Jacqueline in Paris - A Novel . By Ann Mah.-2022 - 322 Pages-A Paris in July 2924 Work

Paris in July 2024

Paris in July does not just include books. Contributions on your Paris vacation, your favourite meal or restaurant, French movies, music, art, Parisian history and more are very welcome. On the home page for the event you will inevitably discover perhaps new to you books, movies and recipes to send you if you are lucky to Paris or at least the kitchen.


During Paris in July 2022 I read a marvelous book, Mastering the Art  of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year  in Paris by Ann Mah. 2015 - 273 Pages 

I am very glad to have  an opportunity to post on another set in 
in Paris novel  by Ann Mah during this year's Paris in July.

Jacqueline in Paris is a first person narrative of the experiences of Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of President John Kennedy, of her year spent in Paris as part of a year abroad program at Vassar College in 1949 up to her return on an official visit as the wife of the president in June of 1961.  She tells the story from her memories after his assassination.

The work with her life with her divorced from her father mother who has very strict expectations for her.  Her mother remarried for money.  The only proper life for a girl according to her mother was a wife to a wealthy young man from the right sort of family.  She told Jacqueline to hide her intelligence as it would turn away potential suitors.  She also remains close to her alcoholic father with a reputation as a philander.


"September 1949 Jacqueline Bouvier arrives in postwar Paris to begin her junior year abroad. She’s twenty years old, socially poised but financially precarious, and all too aware of her mother’s expectations that she make a brilliant match. Before relenting to family pressure, she has one year to herself far away from sleepy Vassar College and the rigid social circles of New York, a year to explore and absorb the luminous beauty of the City of Light. Jacqueline is immediately catapulted into an intoxicating new world of champagne and châteaux, art and avant-garde theater, cafés and jazz clubs. She strikes up a romance with a talented young writer who shares her love of literature and passion for culture – even though her mother would think him most unsuitable.

But beneath the glitter and rusho France is a fragile place still haunted by the Occupation. Jacqueline lives in a rambling apartment with a widowed countess and her daughters, all of whom suffered as part of the French Resistance just a few years before. In the aftermath of World War II, Paris has become a nest of spies, and suspicion, deception, and betrayal lurk around every corner. Jacqueline is stunned to watch the rise of communism – anathema in America, but an active movement in France – never guessing she is witnessing the beginning of the political environment that will shape the rest of her life—and that of her future husband.

Evocative, sensitive, and rich in historic detail, Jacqueline in Paris portrays the origin story of an American icon. Ann Mah brilliantly imagines the intellectual and aesthetic awakening of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, and illuminates how France would prove to shape her life" from the Publisher 

Ann Mah is an American food and travel writer. She is the author of the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller The Lost Vintage, as well as three other books. She contributes regularly to the New York Times Travel section, and her articles have appeared in the Washington Post, Condé Nast Traveler, The Best American Travel Writing, The New York Times Footsteps, Washingtonian magazine, Vogue.com, BonAppetit.com, Food52.com, TheKitchn.com, and other publications.

I hope to read this month another of her set in France novels, The Lost Vintage.




Thursday, April 7, 2022

Mastering the Art of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year in Paris by Ann Mah. 2015 - 273 Pages



Mastering the Art  of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year  in Paris by Ann Mah. 2015 - 273 Pages 


A dream has come true for a very passionate foodie, Ann Mah and her American Diplomatic Corp husband Calvin, he has been given a three year assignment in Paris.  Sadly, soon after they arrive he is sent to Irag for a year. No families are allowed there.  Mah is initially crushed by her loneliness. She fears for Calvin’s safety.


Calvin encourages her to employ her passion for French  cooking by  travels through country.  She seeks out the Regional sprcialities of the regions she visits.  For each of The ten regions she provides a brief history, introduces local chefs.  She visits three Star Michelin restaurants and simple cafes known only to locals.  At the close of each chapter there is an elegant recipe of a famous French dish.  You Will leave this book hungry!


Mah shares her aclimation to living in Paris as an American of Chinese ancestory, slowly learning French and getting a job at The American Library.


She talks about Julia Child, another diplomatic wife in Love with Paris and French Food. Diplomats have no real fixed home.  


Mastering the Art  of French Eating:Lessons in Food and Love from a Year  in Paris is s very good book.  To me it brought on deep feelings of regret.  I had planned to travel to Paris in 2022 with my wife. She passed away on January 19.


I have a copy of Mah’s debut novel Kitchen Chinese and hope to read it soon.


“Ann Mah is an American food and travel writer and the bestselling author of The Lost Vintage and three other books. A frequent contributor to the New York Times’ Travel section, she lives in Paris and Washington, DC.”  


https://www.annmah.net/


Mel Ulm







 

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