In Paris for a week­end vis­it, Eliz­a­beth Bard sat down to lunch with a hand­some French­man — and nev­er went home again.

Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slid effort­less­ly through her pavé au poivre, the steak’s pink juices pud­dling into the sauce? Lunch in Paris is a mem­oir about a young Amer­i­can woman caught up in two pas­sion­ate love affairs — one with her new beau, Gwen­dal, the oth­er with French cui­sine. Pack­ing her bags for a new life in the world’s most roman­tic city, Eliz­a­beth is plunged into a world of bustling open-air mar­kets, hip­ster bistros, and size 2 femmes fatales. She learns to gut her first fish (with a lit­tle help from Jane Austen), soothe pangs of home­sick­ness (with the rise of a choco­late souf­flé) and devel­ops a crush on her local butch­er (who bears a strik­ing resem­blance to Matt Dil­lon). Eliz­a­beth finds that the deep­er she immers­es her­self in the world of French cui­sine, the more Paris itself begins to trans­late. French cul­ture, she dis­cov­ers, is not unlike a well-ripened cheese-there may be a crusty exte­ri­or, until you cut through to the melt­ing, piquant heart.

Pep­pered with mouth-water­ing recipes for sum­mer rata­touille, sword­fish tartare and molten choco­late cakes, Lunch in Paris is a sto­ry of falling in love, redefin­ing suc­cess and dis­cov­er­ing what it tru­ly means to be at home. In the deli­cious tra­di­tion of mem­oirs like A Year in Provence and Under the Tus­can Sun, this book is the per­fect treat for any­one who has dreamed that lunch in Paris could change their life.