Mme. Proust and the Kosher Kitchen

Kate Taylor has written an astonishingly sophisticated debut novel. Three stories, spanning the period from fin de siecle Paris to modern day Toronto, are skilfully braided together. Marie is a young translator trying to come to terms with her failed relationship with Max, son of Holocaust survivor, Sarah. Sarah was smuggled out of France at the age of twelve and placed with a Jewish family in Toronto. Her parents were killed by the Nazis and her life is, of course, forever changed by these events. Mme. Proust is Marcel's mother and Marie is translating her diaries, hoping to ease her own heartbreak through literature. Cultural conflict and alienation are the powerful themes running through the novel but they are handled with subtlety. Mme. Proust and Sarah love their sons but they walk a fine line between nurturing and smothering. The parallels emerge gradually and gracefully. This could have been a confusing novel but Taylor juggles the three perspectives with ease. I'm glad I read it right before going to Paris; Taylor's evocative descriptions of the city have put me in the mood.