Writing a novel about a famous person like Julia Child is a gift, especially if you are writing about the person’s life before they became famous. This is because the audience’s knowledge of what happened in the future can drive the momentum of the story forward, without the author having to do such a heavy lift.
And so author Diana R. Chambers made a smart choice when she decided to write about beloved television host Julia Child before she became famous for The French Chef.
In THE SECRET WAR OF JULIA CHILD, we learn about thirty-something Julia McWilliams career at the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which she joined in 1942. Typical of the time, Julia was hired to do a little light dusting in the form of typing and filing. (Later in life, she always claimed to be “just a file clerk.”) She was extremely fortunate that her boss, William J. Donovan, saw her driving ambition as well as her keen intelligence, so that her filing job morphed into a top-secret security clearance job for someone entrusted with spying and uncovering traitors.
What a life it was for a smart, self-driven young woman! For Donovan earned the nickname “Wild Bill Donavan” for the number of rather startling stories about him. Nevertheless, President Roosevelt valued his insights and in 1941, tasked him with founding the OSS, which was the first iteration of the CIA.
In a way, this volume almost wrote itself. But I still thought it could have been vastly improved by having a narrative arc. In my opinion, a proper spine of tension would have prevented the ending from being so abrupt.
