The French Kitchen by Kristy Cambron

The French Kitchen
by Kristy Cambron

ISBN-13: 9781400345267
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Released: August 5, 2025

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Paris, 1952 -- An ex-pat wife living in Paris signs up for a cookery class taught by an American chef with an indomitable wit and decidedly French airs--an instructor by name of Julia Child. Amongst pots and pans and prim Paris wives learning to sauté in the French way, Kat Fontaine searches for answers about what happened to her brother. Still haunted by the years she spent serving in the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII, Kat soon finds a simple cookery class unearths the tangle of gut-wrenching memories of war and questions about the high-ranking society husband whose past is as murky as her own.

Rue, 1943 -- Deep in the heart of Nazi-controlled northern France, Manon Altier works as a French chef at the famous Château du Broutel, where names like Himmler, Rommel, and Goebbels frequent the guest list. She passes on information to rebel networks working against the Vichy regime. Manon digs deep into the glitz and glamour of a Nazi stronghold that has her teetering on the edge of being discovered at any turn. Manon must lean on her instincts to judge whether to run and hide or stand firm.


My Review:
The French Kitchen is a historical suspense and romance. While there were 2 main perspectives (Kat and Manon), we also eventually got point-of-view scenes from their love interests. The author initially switched between three timelines: Boston, USA in 1943, where Kat's brother disappears after stating he's going to join the war efforts. Kat's recruited into the OSS as a field agent lured by promises of helping her find her missing brother. Rue, France in 1943 where Manon works for the French Resistance as a chef in a kitchen feeding high ranking German officers. Kat ends up working with her. Paris, France in 1952, where Kat returns to find her missing brother and marries a Frenchman who worked under the Germans during the war. Kat's not sure if he was also helping the Resistance. It was a little confusing to keep track of everything until the 1943 timelines merged.

As people working for the OSS were caught, it's clear they needed to uncover who's leaking OSS information to the Germans. The unexpected third traitor at the end didn't really make sense, partly because the motive was rushed over, but the story otherwise held together once all of the pieces were revealed. Incidentally, Julia Child and the cooking classes were only a very minor part of this story.

Manon's a very determined woman willing to risk her life to get revenge for her family's deaths. Kat's courageous, observant, smart, able to read lips, and prepared for dangerous situations. Two men come to admire and love these two women, but secrets from the wartime cause rifts until the secrets were uncovered by Kat. The main characters acted realistically and were complex. It felt like they could have been real people. Vivid historical and setting details were woven into the story, creating a distinct sense of the time and place. The suspense was created by the constant danger of being found out by those quite willing to kill anyone working against the Nazis.

There were no sex scenes or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this suspenseful, interesting story.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.