The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry

 “I can never get enough of true stories about people who stop in the middle of their life’s journey to ask, ‘What do I really want?’ and then have the guts to actually go get it… a really lovely book— engaging, intelligent and surprisingly suspenseful.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

“Engaging… should strike a chord with anyone who has dreamed of leaving the rat race and following a passion for food…foodies and memoir fans will be enchanted.” – Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

“It’s Under the Tuscan Sun goes to cooking school.” - Michael Ruhlman, author of Ruhlman’s Twenty

In 2003, Kathleen Flinn, a thirty-six-year-old American living and working in London, returned from vacation to find that her corporate job had been eliminated. Ignoring her mother’s advice that she get another job immediately or “never get hired anywhere ever again,” Flinn instead cleared out her savings and moved to Paris to pursue a dream-a diploma from the famed Le Cordon Bleu.

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry is the touching and remarkably funny account of Flinn’s transformation as she moves through the school’s intense program and falls deeply in love along the way. Flinn interweaves more than two dozen recipes with a unique look inside Le Cordon Bleu amid battles with demanding chefs, competitive classmates, and her “wretchedly inadequate” French. Flinn offers a vibrant portrait of Paris, one in which the sights and sounds of the city’s street markets and purveyors come alive in rich detail. The ultimate wish fulfillment book, her story is a true testament to pursuing a dream. Fans of Julie & Julia, My Life in France, and Eat, Pray, Love will be amused, inspired, and richly rewarded by this seductive tale of romance, Paris, and French food.

BUY IT - Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Elliott Bay Book Company (my local independent bookstore), Audible.com or order a signed copy from me.

TALK ABOUT IT – Download the Book Club Menu Guide and the Discussion Guide for The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry

LISTEN - to the the interview with my radio crush Neal Conan on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” or Read a collection of reviews