Blessed by a sturdy, stubborn cook, the narrator of this sweetly old-fashioned book (and his family), cannot believe their luck when Clementine agrees to accompany them back to Marblehead. The book evokes rural France just before the devastation of WWII, and vividly describes classic French food and the culinary gap between the United States and the continent. It's not giving away too much to say that Clementine finds love in the new world. With a long section of utterly classic recipes, adapted by the missus in the 1980s.  (FRN455, $13.95)

Culinary Journeys