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Single, six foot two, and thirty years old, Julia McWilliams took a job working for America's first espionage agency, years before cooking or Paris entered the picture. The Secret War of Julia Child traces Julia's transformation from ambitious Pasadena blue blood to Washington, DC file clerk, to head of General "Wild Bill" Donovan's secret File Registry as part of the Office of Strategic Services.
The wartime journey takes her to South Asia's remote front lines of then-Ceylon, India, and China, where she finds purpose, adventure, self-knowledge—and love with mapmaker Paul Child. The spotlight has rarely shone on this fascinating period of time in the life of ("I'm not a spy") Julia Child, and this lyrical story allows us to explore the unlikely world of a woman in a World War II spy station who has no idea of the impact she'll eventually impart.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 22, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9798855552997
- File size: 376152 KB
- Duration: 13:03:38
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Candace Joice performs this fictionalization of Julia Child's overseas service in WWII with brio. While her narration can veer into the melodramatic, its eagerness matches the author's enthusiastic writing style. In conversational sections, Joice's delivery becomes more low-key as she creates nuanced vocal portraits of a range of characters. She also does an impressive job of sounding like Julia Child without going over-the-top with the chef's idiosyncratic voice. The story is inspired by Child's real-life service with the OSS (the precursor to the CIA) in India, China, and what was Ceylon. There's espionage, danger, heroics, and even romance with her future husband, Paul. Child always said that she was just an OSS file clerk during the war, but that's what a good spy would say. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
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