Julia Child: A Life Free online reading

Here is the delicious life of one of the most beloved figures in 20th-century American culture. With a swooping voice, an incredible sense of humor, and a passion for good food, Julia Child ushered in the nation's culinary renaissance.

In Julia Child: A Life, award-winning food writer Laura Shapiro tells the story of Child's unlikely career path, from California party girl to the coolheaded chief clerk in a World War II spy station, to a bewildered amateur cook, and, finally, to the Cordon Bleu in Paris, the school that inspired her calling.

A food lover who was quintessentially American, right down to her little-known recipe for classic tuna fish casserole, Shapiro's Julia Child personifies her own most famous lesson - that learning how to cook means learning how to live.