Colette Rossant

It is 1955, and Colette Rossant, newly married, has just arrived in America with her husband Jimmy. She is twenty-two, a Frenchwoman in New York, bemused by American customs and most importantly by the food: the limp sandwiches, the ubiquitous mayonnaise, the iceberg lettuce. But post-war New York is bristling with energy, and Colette and Jimmy discover a whole new world in Greenwich Village: theatre and avant-garde cinema, farmers' markets and Jewish delis. Colette slowly falls in love with her adopted country, relishing the brisket sandwiches at Katz's, the exquisite dim sum in Chinatown and the Italian pastries in Mulberry Street. When Jimmy and Colette buy a house downtown on Sullivan Street, Colette finds a place she can truly call home. Sullivan Street in the late sixties is still deeply Italian, with stern mamas and their Mafioso boys and cafés that double up at night as gambling dens. While Jimmy beautifully restores their run-down town house, Colette begins to charm her suspicious neighbours. It is in this house that Jimmy and Colette raise their four children and where Colette progresses from being a passionate cook to an acclaimed food writer. Madeleines in Manhattanis the story of her journey from young housewife to successful professional, from the romantic early days of marriage to grandmotherhood. Colette Rossant has a unique ability to conjure up her memories through food. Just as she brought to life the Cairo of the thirties (Apricots on the Nile) and post-war Paris (Return to Paris), now she brings her inimitable magic to New York.

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