In this incredible new World War II historical fiction novel, Diana Chambers brings Julia Child’s military service in the OSS to life. Following her from a Washington, D.C., office to India, China, and Thailand, readers explore what working for the OSS might have entailed and how her time during the war led her to mapmaker Paul Child, another member of the OSS. By focusing on Julia’s life before she was a household name for her French cooking, readers get a chance to explore her life before that point and uncover the USA’s espionage efforts in the Asian theater of World War II. Drawing on historical records (and adding some embellishment with authorial license), Chambers’ new book is brilliantly written and a fantastic character study of Julia Child and the OSS with its emphasis on her working relationship with General “Wild Bill” Donovan. With its incredibly lifelike characters and the vibrant descriptions of the OSS File Registry and of the wartime environment across Asia, the book’s details and settings really add to the incredible atmosphere of this immersive and exciting read. Perfect for historical fiction lovers of all kinds, this is a definite must-read for World War II historical fiction fans.

This is a story of Julia reimagined, set in the perilous frontlines of WW2 and prior to her life as the legendary French chef we have come to know and love. It is a four part read with a rather large casts, many of them supporting, and includes remarkable key players namely historical and fictional. There was so much to unpack here with the schematics of war and the romances that bloomed in its wake. I came across many memorable scenes and unforgettable quotes echoing the painful battles being fought inside one’s heart and on the forefront, all worthy of highlighting. I would not recommend rushing through this considering its rich detailing of strategic plans and numerous places covered. It is evident the author has taken great lengths to paint a mural of the countless lives and countries affected by warfare.

Julia McWilliams has to deal with the arrogant Paul Child and she is not happy. As the two work together during WWII Paul introduces Julia to many tastes and experiences as they become closer and Julia will eventually become the infamous Julia Child. This fictionalized account of Julia Child's years as a spy is extremely interesting and a great read.

I went into The Secret War of Julia Child expecting a story based on real events, so I was a bit disappointed to find out it’s purely fiction. This book imagines what Julia Child's life might have been like during World War II, taking readers on a fictional journey of her adventures working for the OSS in Asia. It follows her growth from a file clerk to playing a more prominent role in the war effort.

The story captures her self-discovery, excitement, and romance, particularly her relationship with Paul Child, which adds a charming touch. While I was initially let down by the fictional nature, the book is still an engaging read for fans of historical fiction and offers a unique perspective on Julia’s early years.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy.

Really enjoyed this book, which begins with a rising crescendo of intrigue and only gets more interesting. I rarely categorize a book as "un-put-down-able" but this one certainly fits that description. The author imagines a young Julia - before she was surnamed Child - at work during the second world war, employed as a security analyst. Julia is swept up into international relations made real when she is tapped to travel overseas on a special security mission. She is further pulled into the task in a life-changing way through certain people that she meets in this capacity. The reader is definitely right alongside our heroine by inclusions of some of the smallest, but materially significant details. Truly a memorable read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed learning so much about a less publicized part of Julia Child’s life, when she worked as a spy in WWII and met her husband, Paul Child. It’s a great adventure and I was so impressed by Julia’s bravery during tough times. But at the very end of the book is an author’s note that says the book is fiction. Is some of it true? Probably. But I have no idea how much, and that’s really disappointing. Nothing in the blurb makes it clear that this is historical fiction and the author cited no sources and has no footnotes. I gave it three stars for being a good story but I’m really disappointed to know that what I read may or may not be true and I don’t know which!

I received an eARC of this book for free courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

This book was an interesting look at Julia Child before she became the French chef that we all watched on television. She was 30 years old, 6'2" , unmarried and from a well to do family when she decided that she wanted to do her part to help America win the war. She became part of General "Wild Bill" Donovan's secret File Registry that was part of the Office of Strategic Services. She was a vital member of the team in Washington but when there was a job in the Far East, in Asia's remote frontlines of then-Ceylon, India, and China, she begged for the transfer. Her boss finally relented and authorized the move but told Julia that he expected her to keep him informed at what was going on and be a spy for the US. She made several friends on the long voyage to the Far East and the ship came close to being destroyed. She soon settled into her job and made a lot of new friends. One of the people she met that she didn't really like was Paul Child but time soon changed their feelings for each other. Julia thrived on the adventure of being in a new location that at times was very dangerous. She was brave and tenacious and strived to do her best to help her country. It was very interesting to see the person she was and the difference she made before she became known as a French chef. I'll never think of her the same again. The author did extensive research on Julia's war years. At times the story moved much too slow but overall it was a great read!

I love Julia Child, but this book was a DNF for me. I may come back to it at another time, but it was a lot of detail and hard for me to get into. However, that's totally personal preference! This book was well-written and well-researched!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Secret War of Julia Child. I have always been a fan of Julia Child and found her time during WWII interesting. Overall, I found the book hard to get into. I found the narrative moved at a very slow pace, it’s very easy to lose interest in the novel and despite being about a wonderful and inspirational woman like Julia McWilliams Child. The first parts were slow. Part 3 and 4 with more action and her falling in love with Paul Child were more enjoyable. Perhaps I have trouble with the technical descriptions of units, cities and missions. My book club chose this book for our December choice and I am looking forward to discussing and hopefully I will see this book in a different light. Thank you again!!

The only facts that I ever knew about Julia Child was that she was known for her talent as a masterful chef. That was before I listened to the audiobook of The Secret War of Julia Child by Dian R. Chambers. Little did I realize, that in her thirties, Julia made contributions to the United States as a codebreaker for the OSS during World War II. Diana R. Chambers delved into her service years, into the insecurities she had with her height and her unmarried status when she served her country in both the Pacific and in India. I enjoyed the romance that eventually embraced both Julia and Paul Child, the mapmaker, who had also been commissioned by the OSS and served along side Julia and others. I found this newly found information about Julia’s service years, her family, her goals and desires very inspiring and informative. I enjoyed learning all these new things about a woman who I thought of only as a master chef. If you would enjoy learning new aspects about the woman called Julia Child then I recommend this book/audiobook to you highly.

Thank you to Tantor Audio for allowing me to listen to the audiobook The Secret War of Julia Child by Diana R. Chambers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I knew nothing of Julia Child outside of the kitchen- to learn of her early life and how she met her husband was a treat, but the events of the war, her efforts in OSS and her operations were what interested me the most. I know this was a fictional account and that there may be liberties taken, but the story had just the right amount suspense and adventure. It set me off on wanting to know more about Julia.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Sourcebooks for the ARC of this book.

The Secret War of Julia Child is a WWII historical fiction book based on Julia Child’s (McWilliams) time spent in the OSS in the Pacific Theater during WWII, also meeting her future husband, Paul Child. This book was historical fiction based on real events and people during this timeframe.

In reading this story, it is important to realize that this is not Julia’s story but an extrapolated version of possible events that could have happened to her whilst she was on tour for the OSS during WWII in Ceylon, India and China. As long as the reader keeps this in mind, then this is a rather enjoyable read.

Julia Child is a fascinating character and any consideration to the value she played as a spy is interesting. I would have liked to have seen it more based on factual events, however, but I do understand this was a fictional basis of her time in the war.

My rating: 3.5 stars.

I have always enjoyed reading about Julia Child and exploring her recipes, so I was excited to get a copy of The Secret War of Julia Child. The book gives a very detailed look at her life before she became the famous chef, we all know her as. Julia loved a great adventure, was spontaneous and was very loyal to a cause. She first worked at a Research Facility during WWII but quickly moved up the ranks to an overseas post in Asia.
Chambers does an excellent job of researching the facts about Child so much so that I felt I got bogged down in the details and the book drug on a bit.
Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for my ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Everyone knows Julia Child as the famous chef, but not many people know that she worked for the Office of Strategic Services. While Julia declared that she was not a spy, she certainly played an intriguing role in WWII. This is a biographical fiction that is based on true events and facts. But not everything in the book is true, however much I wish it was.

We follow Julia from Washington where she worked as a full clerk to South Asia where she meets Paul Child. 

I loved reading about a Julia Child who didn’t know how to cook, had not experienced different cuisine, and had not yet become the icon we all know and love. I also loved reading about how she met Paul and reading the beginning of their love story. 

There is a little bit of something for everyone to love in this rich novel.

Why Jackie loves it

This book was so well-written and I could hear the voice of Julia Child in the writing. I loved the story of Paul and Julia and the only thing that would have made it better was if it was all true!

“The Secret War of Julia Child” tells the story of Julia Child’s WWII experience working for the Office of Strategic Services, America’s first intelligence agency. During this time she traveled abroad and met her future husband Paul Child.

I am a huge fan of Julia and Child as well as WWII historical fiction, and I like books that enjoy travel so I was looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately it turned out not to be for me.

First of all, from the description of the book I wasn’t sure whether I’d be reading fiction or non-fiction. It turned out to be historical fiction based on real life people. I think clearer marketing around this would have been helpful.

Also, part of the reason I was excited to read this book was book it seemed to be set abroad but Julia didn’t settle down abroad and that portion of the book didn’t really kick into gear until 20% of the way through the book. By that point it hadn’t generated enough momentum to draw me in and so I DNFd.

I think if this book had been marketed more clearly towards fans of slightly slower paced historical fiction that would have been better in helping to find the correct audience for it.

Nevertheless, I think this book could be a big hit for fans of Kate Quinn or Julia Child fans who go into this book knowing it is a fictionalized take on the first big chapter of her life.

I really enjoyed this. I love that we got to see a side of Julia Child that you don’t normally see. I had no idea the role she played in the war or what her experience was. It is very war heavy, like frontline battle heavy, but I thought it was well done and still interesting. Not too boring.

3.5 stars
This historical novel, which is very much a homage to Julia Child, tells a story about the celebrated chef's wartime journey to Southeast Asia and the work she did there for an American espionage agency. Julia McWilliams, who hailed from a blue blood California family, is thirty years old, single and working in Washington, DC as a file clerk with the Office of Strategic Services (the first centralized intelligence agency in the U.S.) during World War II. Through ambition, tenacity and top-notch organizational skills, she manages to land herself a position that will require her to travel to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to work setting up a top-secret Registry office for General Bill Donovan in the spring of 1944. Through her wartime experience in intelligence operations across Ceylon, India and China, Julia finds purpose, adventure, self-knowledge and even meets her future husband Paul Child who is a mapmaker with the OSS.

Quite a bit of research has gone into writing this novel and it is interesting in that it shines a spotlight on Second World War events that took place in Asia - primarily Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India and China. There aren't as many WWII historical fiction novels set in this region of the world as compared to Europe and the author does an excellent job of carefully aligning the plot with actual historical events. I found the novel quite informative in that regard. Julia's adventures are entirely fiction but are skillfully tied to real events.

Very descriptive and excellent at conveying a sense of place, however, the novel is a bit slow-paced with a lot of characters to keep track of and some of Julia's exploits seem more than a little farfetched. Definitely keep in mind while reading that this is an imagined story of what Julia Child could have experienced during her wartime service in Asia based on the limited facts available about that time of her life. Julia herself always maintained that she was only a clerk during the time she served in Asia, however, it is also true that she would have signed an oath of secrecy as an employee of the OSS. The author uses that to construct a tale of espionage with Julia Child as the starring character. The Secret War of Julia Child was an enjoyable read and interesting portrayal of a woman who became a public figure after the war although I tend to enjoy historical fiction more when it's more fact-based.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for sending digital and physical ARCs of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

The Secret War of Julia Child, while a work of fiction, gave so many real-life details of WWII in the areas of India and China that I had never learned of before. The author notably did her research! Also, while this was not the true story of exactly what Julia Child experienced there, it seemed that it could have, in fact, happened to her and many other women like her back in that time of history.

In this fictional story, Julia, before she was the famous chef we all know, was a woman working for the OSS during the time of war. She was sent to India to help with operations as well as spy on some of the others there. The descriptions of the settings of this story were rich and well-researched, but the story, while interesting, was a little slow in some areas and it took me longer to read at times. Even so, I recommend this book for the details of the war and the happenings during that time on foreign soil. I am sure there were many women and men who played roles in real life just like Julia in this story did, and have kept secrecy about it and are to be held in high honor as a huge part of the war effort in WWII.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Imagine it! Chef Julia Child as a spy…

First encountering Julia Child when PBS ran her cooking show as a rerun and then later spying her life’s magnum opus, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I was excited to be taken back through Diana Chambers’ artful writing style to WWII when Julia worked for America’s secret service, the OSS, and first encountered adventure and the love of her life.



Foremost, The Secret War of Julia Child by Diana R. Chambers is historical fiction. Chambers painted the details in color and shadow so that this was part ‘this is how it was for real’ and ‘this could have been true.’ An intriguing tale of high adventure for an unlikely heroine. I had no trouble with blending the real-life Julia Child of my mind’s eye with Chambers’ sensitive, full of joie de vivre, yet quietly intrepid younger version, Julia McWilliams.



The story begins in Washington DC when Julia is the secretary to the real-life founder of the OSS (America’s CIA predecessor) “Wild Bill” Donovan, and she dreams of becoming one of his operatives and not just a paper pusher for this war. She gets her chance when he sends her to India to set up the regional OSS office and an even more secret directive to spy on their allies, the British, to determine if they are as solid as they seem. The voyage out and first days in India are a crash course in the uncertainty of war and survival. There are transfers to exotic locales and adventures. This eye-opening first chance in the field is so much more than she expected with lessons learned coming right and left including lessons in love and relationships.



Taking its time over the course of the war in Southeast Asia, I was tantalized by her secret work, unexpected spy adventures, and Julia’s personal life which also served to showcase the perilous real life of that place and period. She was parts scared and parts shocked by conditions in the field and for those enduring war in their lands. I greatly appreciated that local flavor and the people who populated this book along with Julia’s exploits.



The Secret War of Julia Child is a brilliant star in WWII fiction and romance that readers will definitely want to pick up. As Julia would always sign off her program, “Bon Appetit!”

Wow the amount of work and research this author did is astounding and how she really brought Julia’s dynamic personality to light was incredible. Can we just take a moment to recognize Paul as the ‘greenest flag’ of men ever. Like, hello, can I marry Paul? lol. His poetry to her!!! I loved their banter and chemistry. Well done!