The Secret War of Julia Child

Julia McWilliams, the real-life figure at the center of this historical novel, has always wanted to make something of herself. At a career dead end, she becomes a clerk at the Office of Strategic Services in 1944 and travels to South Asian bases to set up U.S. document centers and collect intel. In this position, she gets into the nitty-gritty by digging into several successful operations. But bad luck interrupts her progress: she’s laid low with dengue fever, experiences a boat bombing, and has encounters with hostiles. Then Julia meets Paul Child, a womanizing mapmaker, and forms a relationship that adds emotional depth to her vaulting ambition. Here the novel’s suspense abates, as history will of course prove Julia and Paul Child to be a durable and happy couple. Chambers (author of CIA thrillers and the historical novel The Star of India) has done prodigious research on Julia Child and all the other characters appearing here. A few high-tension incidents in the novel are pure fiction but quite credibly could have happened to the strong and motivated Julia.