I just had to read this book. As a fan of Julia Child, of food and cooking, of recipe books this one really did grab my attention and I am so glad I read it. And wow.... What a reveal of a little known history of a well known woman. This book took my on the journey of Julia Child and brought to life how she became the person, woman, celebrity she is.

This is such and interesting read and once I got started I just couldn't stop. It is all very interesting and intriguing, This brings out all the secrets of Julia Child's past, it is a book that will astound you and amaze you. Well researched and well written I enjoyed this book for the historical aspect as well as finding out more about the life of this well known woman.

My only complaint is that there were so many people in this book I lost track of some of them. It was hard to keep them all in a line and rememebr them. But other than that it is a great read.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Julia Child most everyone knows from cooking and it is interesting to learn she was never a good cook in her early years but still she learned. Little known maybe Julia Child as a spy, giving back to her country and risking life and limb in her pursuit to assist the cause. This novel takes the reader on a world tour following Julia and her travels to assist in World War II. This book is a deep dive into the Forgotten War in Southeast Asia that was brutal and lasted far longer than the war in Europe. The story is action-packed as Julia sails to India with some OSS compatriots for her first overseas posting. The descriptions of the sights and smells that caused Julia's senses to explode are beautifully detailed. She continues to Ceylon where intrigue and treason are brewing in the intelligence community. From there she goes to Burma and finally over the Himalayas into China where the politics of Chiang Kai Shek, Chairman Mao, and the warlords complicate the allies' war plans. The writing is exquisite, with detailed observations of each country's beautiful landscapes, biodiversity, incredible culinary dishes, and the local people. Julia loved it and thrived, never settling for anything less than a life well-lived. As spectacular as the settings are, this story is character-driven with the unique men and women who served in the OSS in far-flung places during World War II. The author's detailed, diligent research and superb writing skills made reading this book a privilege. The book is a very interesting and well-researched window into the Allied war years in India, Ceylon, and China. I did feel the story lagged a little bit at times and I found myself loosing interest and had to push myself back into the book. My thanks to NetGalley, the author and Sourcebooks Landmark.

Fans of Julia Child, famous chef and TV personality, will be intrigued by this just released historical fiction novel, “The Secret War of Julia Child,” by Diana Chambers. From an imaginative childhood growing up in Pasadena, California, this tall gawky young woman found her way to Washington, D.C. and became a documents supervisor and then an “asset” in the newly formed OSS. This fascinating story tells of her experiences in the Southeast Asian Command, out of Delhi, India. Her intellect and spirit of independence there gave her the confidence to excel in her endeavors—it was said, “The war made her.”
I enjoyed learning about her journey in the wartime and post-wartime years. The author’s skilled prose especially shines as she describes the Asian locales, culture, and food that Julie experienced.
As the author says, this well-researched volume is her “personal interpretation inspired by her admiration and respect” for Julia Child. This is a perfect read for those who are curious about the earlier years of her life and wartime experiences that informed her later success!

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

For as much action is described in this book and as many spy adventures as Julia Child has, this book comes off as dull. There are so many people and places to keep track of that it is a big jumble and my mind wandered frequently, making it more difficult to follow. This had a great premise but it didn’t quite deliver for me.

I can tell the author put in a ton of research into this novel.
Most people recognize Julia Child’s name from her cooking show. However she lived a life of subterfuge and deceit during WWII.
I love stories about renowned people who have hidden pasts.
We all have secrets dont we?
You won’t go wrong with this one!

I loved this look at Julia Child’s life during the war and before she was famous for cooking! It was a really enjoyable read and definitely a facet i hadn’t heard about or read about before.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

A really interesting look at Julia Childs life before she became a world famous chef.I really enjoyed learning about her world her interests historical fiction at its best.# netgalley #sourcebooks.

"The Secret War of Julia Child" delves into the life of Julia before she became famous for "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and "The French Chef." A wonderfully researched and charming historical novel that's perfect for anyone who wants to know more about Julia's life before her love of the culinary arts.

**Thank you Net Galley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.**

The Secret War of Julia Child aims to tell about Julia McWilliams Child’s time in the Pacific theater as an OSS operative during WWII. The story is lengthy and slow-paced and while I enjoyed parts of the story, and the author’s research is evident, my biggest problem comes from the fact that she chose to sensationalize the story of a very well-known person. This is historical fiction, so some things are embellished; that's to be expected. However, as I read/listened, I thought many times that it seemed impossible for one person to have survived so many separate events (enemy attacks on land, sinking boat/only survivor, plane crash, etc). Sure enough, the author's note reveals that most of them were not true (but they could have happened was mentioned many times). Events like this happening in a story to an entirely fictional character in order to explain what was happening in that time period, yes, but to put a well-known, real person into situations you know she wasn't a part of just doesn't work for me. Her life as an OSS operative was interesting enough without placing her in dramatic, sometimes tragic, events she simply wasn’t a part of

Her romance with her future husband, Paul Child, whom she met while they both served overseas, was also frustrating. Does she or doesn’t she like him? She acted very juvenile about the entire relationship (she’s 30+ years old, by the way). Then, when it got physical, it was a little cringy to read about.

Additionally, there were so many characters and it was difficult to keep track of them.

I would honestly prefer a nonfiction account of her time in WWII.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for an ARC of this novel.

Those who grew up with Julia Child’s cookbooks and TV shows, and those of a younger generation who were introduced to her through Meryl Streep’s performance in the 2009 film Julie & Julia, know about her status as the American chef who became an international culinary celebrity during the second half of the 20th century. Few know about her ‘before’ life as the gawky, 6 foot 2, daughter of wealthy California parents who enjoyed a privileged upbringing in Pasadena and an Ivy League education that carried her blithely through the Depression into a role in FDR’s war office. Although she initially took a job as a lowly file clerk to serve her country, her intelligence, resourcefulness, resilience, and patriotic devotion quickly saw her promotion to the inner ranks of General ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan’s Office of Strategic Services. Whereupon she became a spy. This is the Julia Child of the novel; the real-life Julia Child declared that she ‘was never a spy.’

Before the war in the Pacific ends with two atomic bombs, fictional Julia has done her bit in Ceylon, India, Burma and China. She has met her one true love, the cartographer and OSS operative Paul Child. She has worked for many of the Allied leaders, including Lord Mountbatten and the upper ranks of Chiang Kai-shek’s American-supported government, as well as the American president and his military kingpins . This is factual. More imaginary are her various death-defying feats that sometimes stretch credulity, but they do build on the tension and anxiety that were undoubtedly very real in wartime, especially for those engaged in dangerous high-stakes operations.

As historical fiction, not history, and given how little about secret service strategies is on the public record, much of this comes from the author’s imagination. She makes it clear in her epilogue that this is not so much a work about Julia Child—who is actually Julia McWilliams until the last few pages—as it is a work inspired by her that considers what she might have experienced. Much is made of her courage and intrepid action. But even more is made of her obsessive insecurities that focus on her height, big feet, small breasts and frizzy hair, but also the ‘Hollywood legs’ and athleticism that she is proud of. There are a few eye-rolling moments in which she empathizes with the suffering of American Blacks and the oppressed of the colonies as though standing out as a taller than average woman puts her in a similar position. There are other ‘tone-deaf’ instances. She expresses enormous compassion sympathy for the poor and starving, but enjoys her gin and tonic and champagne and choice foods even in the midst of starvation. But she does over-tip.

I wanted to love this book, and I was willing to buy into the ‘what if’ elements. Even in non-fictional historical writing, connections and context have to draw on imagination. There simply isn’t definitive evidence for everything. But what is possible in the imagination must also be plausible. Julia’s adventures in Asia seem to be speculative fiction more than a fictionalized account of historical reality. I also didn’t warm up to either Julia or her eventual beloved Paul. They both come across as arrogant, self-obsessed, and immature, more like teenagers than the middle-aged sophisticates they are supposed to be. Julia’s mother Caro, deceased before the story starts, is an intrusive presence far too often, as almost everything happening in front of her sparks memories about their seemingly perfect mother-daughter relationship. Her father, Pops, doesn’t appear nearly as much but sometimes literally ‘pops’ into an important scene with the comments Julia thinks he would make. The story wouldn’t suffer for their loss.

The author spent ten years researching this project, and this shows through clearly in her description of the condition of the Pacific colonies and their people, exploited by their European colonizers who put their own interests first even while under attack. The truest sentence in the book comes from Paul Child, who declares that war is an ugly beast. A couple of references to this as ‘the war to end all wars’ are off-putting. Wrong world war. This was ‘the war to save the world for democracy’. This is, overall, an entertaining read, but I’d advise reading the epilogue first.

Enthralling!

So Julia Child is one of my fav people. Ever since I saw the film of her cooking omelettes for 100 plus people on a couple of spirit stoves at the Smithsonian Institute in D.C. I’ve been intrigued.
Intrigued by her ‘can do’ attitude, her indomitable spirit, her zest for life.
That has been fuelled further by various movies and TV series that have added to her legend over the years.
Of her previous life with the Office of Espionage Services there has been little mention.
That’s part of what makes this novel so interesting. Julia’s forays into the far east as head of the Registry of OSS brings to life the people she meets and trusts.
There’s Julia’s observations of the situation as the Japanese edge closer to unoccupied countries —through Sri Lanka, northern provinces of China, Burma, eventually down into Malaya.
The people she meets, including nationalists leader Chiang Kai-Shek and Madam Chiang Kai-Shek, communist party adherents—all fighting the common enemy, Japan.
And of course her beginning and subsequent relationship with Paul Child who was a mapmaker, and so much more.
Julia didn’t trust Paul when she first met him but that would slowly develop and become the loving, enhancing lifelong partnership they had.
Paul encouraged Julia “to relax and simply be. She did!
A fascinating couple, both with amazing stories, individually and together, that continued long after the war!
Above all it’s Julia’s attitude towards the local people she works with and meets, her ability to thrive in situations and places most of us would run screaming from, that informs and endears. The flight from India over the ‘bump’ of the Himalaya’s into China was evisceratingly scary.
A brilliant fictional look at Julia based on factual information of the times. What could’ve, might’ve, should’ve, and possibly did occur. Amazingly in-depth research from Chambers!
Bravo!

A Sourcebooks ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

This historical fiction novel tells the story of Julia Child before she married Paul Child & became the famous chef, known for her French cuisine & witty banter on her cooking show., Single, 6 foot 2, and thirty years old, Julia McWilliams took a job working for America's first espionage agency.
She went from Washington, DC file clerk, to head of General "Wild Bill" Donovan's secret File Registry as part of the Office of Strategic Services.
During the war, while in China, she fell in love with mapmaker Paul Child. The book details their entire wartime journey and eventually the romance that followed. ,

I remember watching her cooking show on TV as a child on Saturdays, and then much more recently, watching the HBO series Julia. Although the HBO series mentioned briefly the time she & Paul spent abroad during the war, it didn't go into detail, so this was the first time learning a lot of this. The author did make note at the beginning and end of the book that some parts were fictionalized , but the majority of the story was based on facts. Despite the fact that I found Julia to be an amazing woman with even more depth than I had imagined, I found the book to be a bit of a slow burn from start to finish. Overall though, it is a good read and worth checking out.

I have to admit that I paid very little attention to Julia Child while I was growing up. She was just a woman with a funny voice who had a cooking program on television-- and I hated cooking. (I still do.) If not for the fact that I'm a fan of Meryl Streep's movies, I never would've watched Julie & Julia, and I never would've become fascinated by the woman with the funny voice-- and that fascination led me to Diana R. Chambers' The Secret War of Julia Child.

Julia Child had an unconventional mother who wanted more for her daughter. This made Julia keenly ambitious and determined to make her mark in the world. She knew she had to make a difference. I enjoyed the often poetic descriptions of the Asian landscape and how Julia sampled every bit of native cuisine that she could-- a harbinger of things to come-- but the book came up short in other areas.

One thing readers should keep in mind as they read this book is that it's not based on fact. As the author says, "I offer my story as one that exists only in the realm of possibility, a personal interpretation inspired by admiration and respect," and it is this that was the book's downfall. Julia as a spy, as a code breaker, and adept at plugging leaks? Yes, I can see that, but Chambers went on to add too much to Julia's fictional resume, almost making her an addition to the Marvel Universe of superheroes. This woman did make an impact on the world, so I don't think it was really necessary to "gild the lily."

The landscape, the food, the long, involved road to finding love with Paul Child... I enjoyed all these things, but Julia was no superhero.

The Secret War of Julia Child concentrates on her life-time-period before becoming the famous chef; she had a passion to serve her nation.

Julia moved from California to DC where she got her first job at Research Department during WWII. She was quickly elevated to more secret positions, but instead of sitting behind a desk, she craved to be in the field. As a lifelong reader of mysteries and spy novels, she craved hands on action. Her persistence led her to an assignment in Asia.

The story depicts well the spirit of Julia, her hunger for adventure, determination, courage, loyalty, and doing good. She dreamed big, taking giant steps. She wasn’t afraid to apply for something she didn’t have experience in. And she was persistent in achieving whatever she set her mind to.

The author did an extensive research. However, there are some gaps in Julia’s story and filled with writer’s creative imagination.

At times, the story is quite descriptive, making the pace slow.

Nevertheless, it was interesting to learn more about this period and Julia’s contribution, especially when she is primarily known as celebrity chef. This story shows a different side of her, not diminishing her lively spirit.

Thank you Sourcebooks for my #gifted copy of The Secret War of Julia Child! #sourcebooks #bookmarked #sourcebookslandmark #TheSecretWarOfJuliaChild #DianaRChambers

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐖𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐑. 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

When I first saw the title for this book months ago, I was so intrigued. I’ve always loved Julia Child, but only knew her for her cooking skills. When I read the description for this book, I knew I had to read this book. I flew through this book so quickly. I loved hearing about a different side of Julia Child, and seeing her determination and drive to achieve her goals. It was also interesting to learn more about WWII in Asia. I will admit, this was a part of that time period I knew nothing about. I really loved learning about Julia’s relationship with Paul, and how it was kind of an enemies to lovers type situation. Overall, I found this book to be so well-researched and entertaining. If you love historical fiction and Julia Child, I think you will really enjoy this book!

Posted on Goodreads on October 21, 2024: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
**Posted on Instagram - Full Review- on or around October 22, 2024: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Amazon on October 22, 2024
**-will post on designated date

I did not enjoy this. This book badly needs to be edited, as there were several continuity and plot errors throughout. I thought there were too many characters and it was too difficult to keep them straight. Ditto for dialogue. As other reviewers have noted, it was often hard to determine which character was speaking. I like the idea of a historical fiction novel based on Julia Child's wartime efforts, but this just missed the mark. I was bored and wished I had picked up a nonfiction version of her story instead.
I would not recommend this to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC!

The Secret War of Julia Child by Diana R Chambers is a story long before Julia McWilliams becomes Julia Child and world renowned French Chef. Ms. Chambers story is a fictional but entirely possible account of Julia McWilliams time serving her Country in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. I totally appreciated Ms. Chambers iteration of Julia McWilliams at 30. She has lost her mother and decided she needed to contribute to the ‘cause’.

She starts out in Washington D.C. working for Bill Donovan (also known as Wild Bill). This young Julia is a talented, strong woman who is loyal, patriotic and fun. She is also extremely independent and some what fearless. She totally lacks self confidence and has a low self esteem about her body image. She feels she is too tall (6”2”), has big feet (needs to buy shoes in the men’s department) and has frizzy unmanageable hair to name a few of her insecurities.

When Julia uses her natural intelligence and innate ability to organize, she finds herself being dispatched from one exciting covert mission to another. From the former Ceylon to India and China, Julia learns, grieves, and grows. The story is nicely balanced between intrigue, drama, humor and romance. (This is where she first meets her future husband, Paul Childs). The book also helps the reader gain a better understanding of this little discussed part of World War II.

While there were parts of the story that dragged for me, the overall story was a good one. It’s too bad we can’t get into the OSS archives to find out the specifics of Julia’s service.

I would like to thank Ms. Chambers, Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is another. Side of julia child people don't realize. She was in burma and china as The spy for the united states government. This wasn't interesting because she had a great adventure there.. She also met Paul child Who became her husband after the war. She had a lot of adventures and Some fun As well. This was an interesting book.Because it showed how she was a young girl and she just graduated from smith college. This was an great invention for her because they're This allowed her to travel. I couldn't believe the conditions Some places they have to live. This takes a lot of courage when you're a young woman. This makes you also stronger in life.Because you can realize you can survive anything. I like how the love story played out with P a u l child. Great book

I enjoyed this book and the writing. I think it is a great reading journey to follow Julia along in south east Asia and it is a quite action packed book in my view. I think it would make a great movie to be honest, as there is scenes that are super fast and dramatic, but also the slightly slower paced scenes around strategic planning and also friendship and our love story. I particularly enjoyed that I never knew what would happen next and which adventure would await Julia in the new countries. The book is set in the USA, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and China, so quite a few locations. I would have wished for a bit more love story, as I know she fell in love with her future husband Paul Child while being in south east Asia. But that is my only criticism and I recommend this book to anyone loving historical fiction!

Before Julia Child was the famous chef, she was Julia McWilliams, a 30 year old spy in the OSS during WWII. Her role took her to Ceylon and China as she met interesting characters (some who would haunt her and her husband later in life) as well as her husband Paul. The novel takes us through a fictional account of her WWII adventures.

I wanted to love this as much as I love Julia but it just did not work for me. The pacing was too slow and I kept trying to get into the story but reading it wasn’t working for me so I was thrilled when I received the audio ARC. It definitely moved faster once I could listen to it (and I switched back and forth between reading and listening) but it still never fully grabbed my attention. I loved learning about Julia’s OSS life and it’s a part of her story that I’ve always wanted to know more about so for that I am happy that I read this one. I also really enjoyed the scenes where she fell in love with Paul. But for an adventurery novel I would expected to have it more faster and be a little more fun.

3.5 stars

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC to review