Cooking for Picasso

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Ondine at the Café Paradis, Spring 1936 

A salty southwestern wind came rushing across the Mediterranean Sea with heraldic ceremony, driving a white-­capped tide against the rocks and jostling the fishing boats in the harbor of Juan-­les-­Pins before sweeping into the backyard of the Café Paradis, where Ondine was busy peeling her vegetables. 

She d escaped outdoors with her work on this sunny April morning because the café s kitchen was already a cauldron. A tiny backyard patio was gracefully shaded by a majestic Aleppo pine tree, and Ondine sat on a low stone wall that rimmed the tree. Wielding a confident knife, she diligently pared and sorted Provence s springtime treasures ­baby carrots, peas and artichokes so tender they could be served raw, topped by thinly sliced lemons sweet enough to eat with their rinds on. 

She was working briskly and a delicate sheen of sweat made her sensitive to that sudden change in the wind as it rustled significantly through the pine tree s branches. Because Ondine had been raised to believe in nature s auspicious signs and warnings, she put down her knife, closed her eyes and lifted her head to greet the breeze as it skimmed across her face with an invigorating whiff of the sea. 

She seldom got a quiet moment alone like this to think her own thoughts. So when a hazy premonition of a more exciting future somewhere far away began to shape itself in her mind, she struggled to capture it, as if reaching to grasp a firefly before the light disappeared. 

Ondine! her mother shouted from the café s kitchen. Where is she? On-­dine!  

Ondine flinched as she heard her name reverberating against the huddle of pale stone buildings. She glanced up, and saw her mother s head framed by the window like a portrait of a formidable empress. Even though it was too late for breakfast and too early for the lunch service, there was never a lull in cooking chores to do in order to meet the café s

Camille Aubray is an Edward F. Albee Foundation Fellowship winner. A writer-in-residence at the Karolyi Foundation in the South of France, she was a finalist for the Pushcart Press Editors Book Award and the Eugene O Neill National Playwrights Conference. She studied writing at the University of London with David Hare, Tom Stoppard, and Fay Weldon; and with her mentor Margaret Atwood at the Humber College School of Creative Writing Workshop in Toronto. Aubray has been a staff writer for the daytime dramas One Life to Live and Capitol, has taught writing at New York University, and has written and produced for ABC News, PBS, and A&E. The author divides her time between Connecticut and the South of France.

A tasty blend of romance, mystery, and French cooking. Margaret Atwood, via Twitter

[A] colorful family saga . . . Cooking for Picasso [is] a novel about how people take what seems to be worthless and make it into something priceless. Whether it s a woman who creates meaning from sad circumstances or a genius who finds his way through a fallow period to create his masterwork, the characters in Camille Aubray s novel illustrate how essential bad is to good, life is to death and work is to art. . . . Aubray slowly reveals that value lies not in what you own, but in who you are. The Washington Post

"[A] delicious, atmospheric novel. You'll be glad you're along for the ride." People

This touching and delectable novel invokes the breathtaking scenery of the South of France and the Cote d Azur. . . . Aubray paints a beautiful story of love, art, food, and the enduring romance of the Mediterranean. Fodor s Travel

[A] sweet summer escape. Cosmopolitan

With lively characters and a twisting plot, Aubray s novel is a smart and satisfying tale of family, creativity, romance and intrigue. Booklist

This richly crafted tale of love, trust, art and food is wonderfully evocative of the sun-kissed Côte d Azur, while weaving in a modern-day mystery. . . . Ideal for whiling away some time en vacances on the Riviera. France Today

Two delicious love stories held together by the bonds of family unfold through Aubray s lyricalprose as she paints a portrait of Southern France, haute cuisine and the thrilling hunt for a missing masterpiece. With the skill of an artist, she describes Picasso at a crossroads in his life. Romantic Times

"An entertaining getaway for art lovers and Francophiles . . . The novel's descriptions of food are mouthwatering, and Picasso himself is bold and engaging, a man of outsized passions." Shelf Awareness

"Charming."