Cooking for Picasso

June 27, 2016
In 1936, Céline’s grandmother Ondine Belange was a beautiful 17-year-old girl living in a tiny village in the south of France. The daughter of café owners, Ondine is sent to cook for a mysterious man who has rented a villa in Juan-les-Pins. When the temperamental 54-year-old turns out to be Pablo Picasso, known to have intense love affairs, Ondine’s life (and ultimately Céline’s) is changed forever, especially once she begins posing for him. In the modern day, Céline has come to France under the guise of taking a cooking class to search for the painting that her mother has told her Picasso gave her grandmother. She enlists the help of a celebrity chef, Gil Halliwell, to look for the painting that she is sure holds the key not only to her past but her future. The novel alternates between Ondine’s encounters with Picasso and the repercussions of that brief affair, and Céline’s adventures with cooking, love, and history along the Mediterranean. Both plot lines include a romance—one too sensationalized and one that climaxes without enough buildup. The real meat in this novel is the details (both real and imagined) of Picasso’s fascinating life.

June 1, 2016
In 1936, young Ondine Belange's parents give her a mission: deliver lunch daily from their Cafe Paradis to a reclusive man renting a nearby villa. They swear her to silence, for the patron's name is Pablo Picasso.Picasso has fled Paris, his wife, and mistress for the picturesque countryside of Juan-les-Pins. Ondine soon finds herself swept up in the artist's adventures, meeting Matisse and Cocteau; witnessing jealous fights between Picasso's mistresses; posing for a series of portraits; and even taking him briefly as her lover. He sees her as an artist in her own right--a culinary artist. Yet Picasso disappears just as suddenly as he appeared, leaving Ondine more passionately awakened to the possibilities of her own life. Her parents have unfortunately arranged a marriage that will secure their business but personally disappoints her. Luckily, Ondine's long-lost true love, Luc, returns in the nick of time to sweep her out of France. They land in New York, opening their own successful restaurant and raising their daughter, Julie. Years later, Julie gives her own daughter, Celine, Ondine's notebook of recipes, a letter written the day of Celine's birth, and clues suggesting that Picasso left Ondine more than memories--perhaps a painting was hidden among Ondine's effects! A little sluggish at first, with chapters told from a wide-eyed young Ondine's perspective, Aubray's story picks up the pace and ratchets up the tension when Celine's dastardly stepfather and twin half siblings enter the picture. Determined to cut Celine off from any inheritance, they machinate devious obstacles to keep her from her mother, setting in motion a quest for the missing Picasso worthy of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. As with any good quest, the heroine finds love along the way, too. An amuse-bouche filled with secret ingredients, covert liaisons, and hidden compartments.

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July 1, 2016
Seventeen-year-old Ondine is cooking in her family's cafe in the south of France when she is tasked with delivering meals to a secretive, newly arrived guest. The year is 1936, and the enigmatic patron is none other than Pablo Picasso. Ondine, heartbroken after the loss of her first love, strikes up a cautious rapport with the famed artist, who provides her with a new perspective on her life. Playwright, screenwriter, and first-time novelist Aubray splits the time frame, setting Ondine's story next to the present-day tale of her granddaughter, Celine. When Celine's father dies, and her mother is hospitalized, Celine discovers that her grandmother not only cooked for Picasso but was given one of his paintings, its whereabouts now unknown. This sends her on a journey to the French Riviera, where she takes a cooking class with a foul-mouthed celebrity chef. As Celine tries to find the painting, the secrets of her grandmother's world are revealed. With lively characters and a twisting plot, Aubray's novel is a smart and satisfying tale of family, creativity, romance, and intrigue.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)