The Little French Recipe Book

Let me just start by saying this is the perfect read for Francophiles, lovers of French food and the French way of life. We see a heartstrings story between a father and his son Julien. Julien talks of his childhood, growing up in a loving family home where his father , who is of Algerian descent works hard in his restaurant. The fathers passion for cooking is evident. He taught his son how to pair ingredients and how to respect the ingredients. The book takes  a twist when Juliens mother Helene leaves never to keep in contact with her child or to return. We see Juliens fathers personality change where once he was laid back he is now always agitated spending less and less time with Julien. Julien opens up to us about his confused feelings, his urge to make his father proud by following in his footsteps and becoming a chef but  the more Julien wants to cook the more his father now stops him from doing so. Preferring his son to stay in higher education and gain 'proper qualifications' which he claims will guarantee him a better future. As time goes on Juliens fathers health deteriorates and he yearns to re connect with his mother whom he so misses. This is a beautiful tale and the recipes are just PERFECT! Highly recommended read.

Beautiful story of a son and his father and their differing ambtions. Many people learn to live with parental disappointment where the ambitions off the two are not matched. Many parents, especially those war damaged show their love in many different ways. This story is so beautifully written it appears simple, a  mark of true craftsmanship.

A beautiful story written from the heart. Julien lives with his father in a small restaurant, the Relais Fleuri, where the locals come to eat the traditional dishes Henri makes. Julien's life from when he's small revolves around the restaurant. He watches his father as he cooks and cooking becomes second nature to him.  He wants to be a chef like his father.. Except Henri wants him to go to college and become an engineer.  A coming of age story told by Julien when his father dies, when he discovers the secrets he has kept about his life and his recipes, Many thanks to Jacky Durand, Hodder and Stoughton and Net Galley

Beautifully written with a very unusual theme, it takes.the reader into a professional chef's kitchen where recipes are guarded and other secrets are kept and are difficult to unravel.

Absolutely beautiful story.a tale of a father and a son of life’s choices. A fathers past his desires for his son ,.Setting a French restaurant emotional thoughtful read.A book I will be recommending highly.#netgalley#hodderstoughton

I really enjoyed this lovely heartwarming book. The relationship between a father and his son took place against the backdrop of a French restaurant with all its associated colours, smells and sights.  Dad is dying at the beginning of the book and his son remembers his upbringing and his growing love of cooking. He finds out secrets from his dad’s and his own past and has to evaluate his relationship anew.

A poignant book - sad because of the lost opportunities to connect but heartwarming as they both accept each other and move forward.

This is a beautifully translated novel, The Little French Recipe Book, from Jacky Durand that explores the heart of a father, Henri, and son, Julien's relationship through the years. Henri is dying, Julien is finding it hard to come to terms with this, preparing to say goodbye, they are close, although it has not always been the easiest of relationships. Henri, of Algerian descent, once a baker, is a chef in a rural Eastern French town, having experienced deep poverty and war. He is not the most communicative of men (an understatement), running the Relais Fleuri restaurant, working the demanding long hours, generous and compassionate, which guarantees he will never be wealthy, at least not financially. Julien's mother, Helene, a literature teacher, gives Henri a book for him to write down his prized recipes which had never been written down. When Helene walks out on them, Julien feels a desperate need to get hold of the recipe book, but it has gone missing.

Helene's absence makes itself keenly felt, a ghost that Henri and Julien never forget, Henri never explains why Helene left, leaving Julien bereft, confused with an inner need to know why. Part of their family is Lucien, aka Lulu, Henri's best friend and confidant, they have been together almost all their lives, an essential part of running the restaurant, along with Gaby, his brother, married to his Russian wife, Maria, living a self sufficient life in the forest. Henri, with his ruined cook's hands, has always wanted more for Julien than the hard life he has faced, he wants him to be educated, qualified for a white collar profession, such as an engineer, not for his son the tough life of a chef. Julien cannot remember a time when he didn't have a passion to cook, food the language of love, family, the central and integral tenet in the emotional closeness between father and son. Julien is going to need to be wily, in which he is advised by Gaby, if he going to achieve his dreams.

This is a profoundly moving story of life, love, and passion where food is everything, the food and recipes related with a sensuality, deep understanding and connection with the entire process, from ingredients, right through to presentation, indisputably a labour of love. In a narrative that shifts from the past to the present, we learn of the joy of Julien's first experience of being in charge of cooking at summer camp, right through to learning of a new world of herbs and spices as he works as a commis chef, whilst studying literature. His father eventually reveals family secrets that shake Julien to his core, he learns of why Helene left, while the most tangibly touching part has Henri embody his acceptance of Julien by verbalising the passing of the reins of the family business of food and cooking to his son as the end of his life edges ever closer.

I did not expect to love this as much I did, it is an emotionally immersive read that I found utterly riveting with its stellar characterisation, located in the world of food and its insightful depiction of the love between a father and son in France. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC.

Many years ago I read a novel called La Cucina about cooking and love , set in Italy and this book has a similar feel to it, though it is not as  sexually explicit. This novel cleverly combines the story of a small french bistro, the people who live and work it, their loves and lives with the recipes that they cook.  My mouth positively watered with the descriptions of the food. . If you have already discovered the novels of Antoine Laurain you will love this as well. It is a feel good read, but also poignant. Highly recommended.

We can never look into other people's relationships without our own experiences affecting them. Especially a son looking at his father's relationships. It doesn't stop us wondering though.

An interesting and heartwarming read

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read an advance review copy of the book.  This review is voluntary,  honest and my own opinion.

Rich, scrumptious, bittersweet, The Little French Recipe Book is a wonderful novel dipped in a mix of nostalgia, love, and secrets. 

Julien’s mother walked out of his life when he was a child. He has always lived with his father, watching him prepare dishes like a magician performs his best tricks. With organic ingredients, Julien’s father turns everything he has in hands into delicious meals. Well, the author does exactly the same. Jacky Durant’s love for France and gastronomy oozes from the pages, as strong as the wafts coming from a well-loved and well-used kitchen. My nose was filled with the best scents holding promises for the palate and the mind. My heart was full of emotion as I was watching Julien and his father follow a gap-filled recipe, neither of them knowing how to reach the other. Julien is keen on following his father’s steps and master the kitchen magic, but the older man has other plans and wishes for his son a good education and life. 

Before leaving them, Julien’s mother had convinced his father to put his recipes in a notebook. She had filled it with his fantastic knowledge, and Julien now wants this precious book, his last link to his beloved dying father. This is why he decides to walk down memory lane and unfolds the knots of his past, hoping to find answers and solace in a lifetime of memories. His discoveries moved me to the core. The author’s simple but outstandingly writing got my taste buds working and my eyes well up. The bond between father and son, despite the difference in generation and all that it entails. Julien’s father is not a man of words, but his actions speak a thousand words. I am thankful I got to share their stories. 

The Little French Recipe Book is a flavourful ode to family love and lost moments, to friendships, childhood, and secrets kept with the best intentions. I loved every page. I tasted every feeling with all my senses. I highly recommend this profoundly moving tale to everyone.

Beautiful. A wonderful story about the relationship between a father and son. The father is a chef and the descriptions of food are mouth watering. He has his secrets in life and in his cooking. This story is a gem and I would definitely recommend it. 

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

3,5 stars 

I recommend this book to everyone who loves cooking, family, and French culture. 

Julien spent his life watching and cooking with his father, a loving yet hardened man, who recently passed away. The story revolves around Julien's memories of his father and their complicated relationship, as well as his search for his mother who left them when he was a small child. 

This story not only feels French but makes the reader long for a time in French history that no longer exists. 

My only complaint is that the book is a bit non-eventual, not much happens except Julien's experiences growing up. 

All and all, a short and yet sweet story about a father and his son.

If you want a delightful diversion from life’s difficulties, then look no further. This beautiful, memoir style book will transport you to France with a cast of colourful characters and mouth-watering recipes. It begins with Julien, son of Henri, an esteemed baker and chef, as he sits by his dying father’s bedside, reminiscing about the past they have shared.

This is part love story and part recipe book, with its vivid descriptions of delicious dinners and other meals. We see how being a French bistro restaurant owner’s son shapes Julien’s life and approach to food as well. As a small boy, he watches his father preparing food with increasing passion and awe, mixed with frustration sometimes, because he longs to participate and be as good a chef as his father is.

Henri, though happy to teach his son by word of mouth and physical demonstration, declines to write his recipes down even though his wife bought him a red, leather-bound book for that purpose. But he has other hopes and plans for his son’s future career. His own charred and scarred hands are testament enough to the sheer hard graft involved in running a successful bistro. 

When Julien’s mother, Helene, unexpectedly leaves them bereft, Henri is even more adamant that his son should follow a different career path, go to college and train as an engineer. There follows a period of frustration and friction between them, until Julien concedes, yet continues learning how to be a better chef, much to Henri’s chagrin, when he finds out. Although he is secretly proud of his son’s abilities.

This is a tender, engaging read, with descriptions of meals and recipes providing an added layer of interest and intrigue. The story swings back and forth between the hospital bed scenario and an account of how father and son have related to one another over the years up to the present moment. It serves up joy and satisfies the senses like the heartwarming meal it is for readers to digest. Highly recommended.

For every Francophile out there this is the book for you with the added bonus of some wonderful French recipes and a beautiful story too.  The story is mainly about a father and his son and the ambitions they both had which were very different and as the story unfolds you can see the strain it put on their relationship. Really easy to read and very absorbing.

A beautiful story of a father and sons relationship. I really enjoyed this book and didn’t race through it like I do many books, but read slowly to really enjoy the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

Many thanks to the author, publishers and Netgalley for a free ARC of this ebook.
This is a perfect feast of a book. It explores father and son relationships, maternal abandonment and a passion for food. For those who love France, and /or French cooking this is a book I'm sure you will enjoy. If you're not that into food, it will absolutely grind your gears and be a real an annoyance. There is food and cooking at every turn in this book. Of course there are relationships, love, sadness and much more. It's beautiful and I Ioved it.  I appreciate its not a book for everyone, but it is a book that I will hold dear. I will definitely read again a d will recommend to friends.