The Secret War of Julia Child: A Novel
“Deftly portraying both Ms. Child and the India-Burma-China theater of war, The Secret War of Julia Child is an exploration of freedom and the importance of fighting for it.”
Julia McWilliams grows up in a life of privilege. With wealth and status, the McWilliams family is an important part of California society. But at six feet, 2 inches tall, Julia is far from the typical debutante.
While her wealthy father is traditional, conservative, and hoping Julia will make a wealthy match, her mother knows Julia longs for more. She encourages Julia to follow her ambitions.
After college Julia takes a job in New York only to be jilted by a man she thought loved her. With a broken heart she returns to Pasadena. After this disappointment and the loss of her beloved mother, Caro, Julia feels directionless. That is until the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
After being rejected by both the army and navy, Julia takes her civil service exam and ends up in Washington, D.C., working for General William Donovan in his new U. S. Office of Strategic Services, or OSS.
After distinguishing herself, Donovan reluctantly sends Julia to Ceylon to work with the British at the Southeast Asia Command. Not only does the United States want to defeat the enemy in Asia, it wants to keep an eye on the British, in particular Lord Mountbatten. Wary of their colonial designs on the region, Julia is tasked with the job of keeping an eye on the Brits. It is dangerous work, but Julia rises to the task time and again.
In spite of the danger, Julia finds time for socializing with Americans and British. One of the Americans, mapmaker Paul Child, is especially infuriating. With his mind on his maps, his inattentiveness borders on rudeness. Soon Julia realizes Paul is a talented artist and his maps of China are essential as it is a region that is not well charted. In spite of Paul’s seeming aloofness, when they are thrown together on a mission she discovers hidden qualities that lie beneath his distant exterior.
But nothing lasts forever in war. Almost as soon as their friendship begins Paul is summoned to work with the Sino-American Cooperative Organization, deep in occupied China. It is dangerous work, and as Julia says goodbye she is well aware they may never meet again.
Soon Julia’s talents are needed in the same region. As a seasoned and successful operative for Donovan, she is tasked with discovering where supplies headed to the starving people of China are being diverted. And, once again, Julia and Paul work together to find out.
As the war marches toward its conclusion, Julia wonders what her life will be like afterward. Will she return to the empty, high society world her father inhabits, or will there be something more? With Paul Child, Julia finds the life that she, and her mother Caro, had always wanted her to find. One that is filled with freedom and flavor.
The Secret War of Julia Child illuminates an important theater of war that is often overlooked. More than a novel about the spy, Julia Child, it provides dramatic and fascinating insights into the battle for mainland China.
The author realistically illustrates just how tenuous the situation was in China, with not only the occupation of the Japanese, but the impending civil war between those loyal to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and those loyal to Mao Tse Tung. And author Chambers does not shy away from showing readers the brutality of the war and the horrors suffered by the Chinese people.
In a relatively unknown part of the war, some of its most important events took place. And Chambers, takes the reader on their own mission to discover the heroism and valor of allied soldiers, not only those from Europe, but from China and India as well.
A well-researched and exhilarating read, The Secret War of Julia Child is a novel that is both sweeping in its scope, yet highly personal for Julia Child. Deftly portraying both Ms. Child and the India-Burma-China theater of war, The Secret War of Julia Child is an exploration of freedom and the importance of fighting for it.