Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child

557 pages

Julia Child was a beloved American television personality from 1963 to 1985. She pioneered an entire genre of cooking shows well before the Food Network.

She was born Julia McWilliams on August 15, 1912 in Pasadena, California to a prominent land owner, John McWilliams Jr. and a college graduate mother, Caro (Weston) McWilliams. She was raised to be a debutant. She graduated from Smith College. After commencement, she was a free spirit and immature for her age. Her six feet, 2 inch frame and average looks didn’t help attract a husband. While all her friends were becoming engaged and marrying their sweet hearts, Julia struggled to find herself in the world.

During World War II she served in the Office of Strategic Services. There she met Paul Child. After a long friendship, they fell in love and married in 1946. Julia was thirty four years old and Paul was forty four.

After the War, Paul was stationed in Paris, France. Julia to occupy her time started taking cooking classes. Before long it became an obsession. She had finally found her niche. She went on to co-author a best-selling book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking and the rest was iconic television history.

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz --- 534 pages

A chatty, popular biography of the doyenne of American cookery, from her tomboyish girlhood in Pasadena, California, and her less than stellar academic career at Smith College. Julia McWilliams was a late bloomer, with no clear idea what she wanted to do with her life until World War II sent her into government service and an overseas assignment with the Office for Strategic Services (OSS), an early intelligence gathering service, first in India and then in China. Although Julia's job was classed as clerical, in actual fact she was responsible for organizing and cross-referencing the raw data that came in from clandestine operatives tracking political and military actions across Asia.

It was during this time that she met her future husband, Paul Child. Although their relationship was slow to kindle, by the end of the war, when it was time to return home, they both knew they had found something essential in each other. Although Paul's family accepted Julia with open arms, her father was bitterly disappointed in Julia's choice of a husband. Julia however had found independence during the war and married Paul Child anyway. Their marriage gave them both the stability and support they needed as Paul pursued a diplomatic career that landed them a posting in postwar Paris. 

In France Julia finally found her purpose in life when she encountered French food. Although up until then she couldn't boil water without burning it, shed was determined to learn French cooking. She signed up for classes and the rest is history.

The book reveals that the exuberance and gusto Julia Child brought to spreading the gospel of good food defined all aspects of her life, her marriage, her friendships and her career.