by Erin French
First published 2021
Erin French opens her story as the celebrated chef behind The Lost Kitchen, but this memoir reaches back to her beginnings on a 25-acre Maine farm where she ran barefoot as a child. French traces her path from working the line at her father's diner to opening her own restaurant in a converted 19th century mill. She chronicles multiple devastating setbacks that brought her to rock bottom: addiction to prescription pills, an abusive relationship that stripped away her identity, and the struggle of single motherhood without income. Her young son becomes her anchor as she fights through darkness and anxiety. Food serves as both comfort and salvation, helping French slowly reconstruct her personal and professional identity. She reveals how she transformed her pain into purpose, building a restaurant that fills its reservation book within hours each spring. Set against Maine's seasonal rhythms, the memoir shows how French discovered the courage to reinvent herself completely, finding strength in community and healing through the generous act of feeding others.
Genres: autobiography, memoir, non-fiction, biography-memoir, food-writing, culinary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, overcoming-adversity, redemption
Setting: Maine
Period: 21st-century
304 pages · Hardcover · Celadon Books
Content warnings: addiction, domestic-violence, mental-illness