Ritz and Escoffier
The Hotelier, The Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $15.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Stefan Rudnicki
-
By:
-
Luke Barr
About this listen
In a tale replete with scandal and opulence, Luke Barr, author of the New York Times best-selling Provence, 1970, transports readers to turn-of-the-century London to discover how celebrated hotelier César Ritz and famed chef Auguste Escoffier joined forces at the Savoy Hotel to spawn the modern luxury hotel and restaurant, where women and American Jews mingled with British high society, signaling a new social order and the rise of the middle class.
In early August 1889, César Ritz, a Swiss hotelier highly regarded for his exquisite taste, found himself at the Savoy Hotel in London. He had come at the request of Richard D'Oyly Carte, the financier of Gilbert & Sullivan's comic operas, who had modernized theater and was now looking to create the world's best hotel. D'Oyly Carte soon seduced Ritz to move to London with his team, which included Auguste Escoffier, the chef de cuisine known for his elevated, original dishes. The result was a hotel and restaurant like no one had ever experienced, run in often mysterious and always extravagant ways - which created quite a scandal once exposed.
Barr deftly re-creates the thrilling Belle Epoque era just before World War I, when British aristocracy was at its peak, women began dining out unaccompanied by men, and American nouveaux riches and gauche industrialists convened in London to show off their wealth. In their collaboration at the still celebrated Savoy Hotel, where they welcomed loyal and sometimes salacious clients, such as Oscar Wilde and Sarah Bernhardt, Escoffier created the modern kitchen brigade and codified French cuisine for the ages in his seminal Le Guide Culinaire, which remains in print today, and Ritz, whose name continues to grace the finest hotels across the world, created the world's first luxury hotel. The pair also ruffled more than a few feathers in the process. Fine dining would never be the same - or more intriguing.
- Best Cookbooks and Food Books of 2018 - Huffington Post
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Provence, 1970
- M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste
- By: Luke Barr
- Narrated by: John Rubinstein
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery.
-
-
Superb Narration, Engrossing Tale
- By Robert R. on 10-22-13
By: Luke Barr
-
The Cartiers
- The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire
- By: Francesca Cartier Brickell
- Narrated by: Hattie Morahan
- Length: 23 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty—four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was “Never copy, only create” and who made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century, thanks to their unique and complementary talents.
-
-
Wonderful Experience to Listen to This Story
- By BB on 01-12-20
-
Curse of Riches
- By: Claire Prentice
- Narrated by: Claire Prentice, Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did the Wendels, one of New York’s most famous Gilded Age families, disappear from history? The Wendels built a fortune from New York real estate, and rubbed shoulders with the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Stuyvesants. But as the 19th century came to an end, the Wendel family tore itself apart. Following six years of painstaking archival research, Claire Prentice has prised open the door of the Wendels’ Fifth Avenue mansion—dubbed “the house of mystery” by the press—to reveal a fascinating and dysfunctional family imprisoned in a gilded cage.
-
-
Kept Waiting for it to be Interesting
- By Mary on 06-23-23
By: Claire Prentice
-
The Apprentice
- My Life in the Kitchen
- By: Jacques Pépin
- Narrated by: Jacques Pépin, Michel Chevalier
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this captivating memoir, the man whom Julia Child has called "the best chef in America" tells the story of his rise from a frightened apprentice in an exacting Old World kitchen to an Emmy Award-winning superstar who taught millions of Americans how to cook and shaped the nation's tastes in the bargain. The Apprentice is the poignant and sometimes funny tale of a boy's coming of age. Beyond that, it is the story of America's culinary awakening and the transformation of food from an afterthought to a national preoccupation.
-
-
Jacques Pépin never has disappointed
- By Peter on 10-03-20
By: Jacques Pépin
-
Capote's Women
- A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era
- By: Laurence Leamer
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times bestselling author Laurence Leamer reveals the complex web of relationships and scandalous true stories behind Truman Capote's never-published final novel, Answered Prayers—the dark secrets, tragic glamour, and Capote's ultimate betrayal of the group of female friends he called his "swans."
-
-
You need to know a bit about the players
- By Etoile NEOhio on 12-30-21
By: Laurence Leamer
-
The Last Leonardo
- The Secret Lives of the World's Most Expensive Painting
- By: Ben Lewis
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s small oil painting the Salvator Mundi was sold at auction. In the words of its discoverer, the image of Christ as savior of the world is “the rarest thing on the planet.” Its $450 million sale price also makes it the world’s most expensive painting. For two centuries, art dealers had searched in vain for the Holy Grail of art history: a portrait of Christ as the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo’s assistants in the early 16th century.
-
-
Definitely makes you think.
- By John Galt on 04-20-21
By: Ben Lewis
-
Provence, 1970
- M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste
- By: Luke Barr
- Narrated by: John Rubinstein
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery.
-
-
Superb Narration, Engrossing Tale
- By Robert R. on 10-22-13
By: Luke Barr
-
The Cartiers
- The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire
- By: Francesca Cartier Brickell
- Narrated by: Hattie Morahan
- Length: 23 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty—four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was “Never copy, only create” and who made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century, thanks to their unique and complementary talents.
-
-
Wonderful Experience to Listen to This Story
- By BB on 01-12-20
-
Curse of Riches
- By: Claire Prentice
- Narrated by: Claire Prentice, Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did the Wendels, one of New York’s most famous Gilded Age families, disappear from history? The Wendels built a fortune from New York real estate, and rubbed shoulders with the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Stuyvesants. But as the 19th century came to an end, the Wendel family tore itself apart. Following six years of painstaking archival research, Claire Prentice has prised open the door of the Wendels’ Fifth Avenue mansion—dubbed “the house of mystery” by the press—to reveal a fascinating and dysfunctional family imprisoned in a gilded cage.
-
-
Kept Waiting for it to be Interesting
- By Mary on 06-23-23
By: Claire Prentice
-
The Apprentice
- My Life in the Kitchen
- By: Jacques Pépin
- Narrated by: Jacques Pépin, Michel Chevalier
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this captivating memoir, the man whom Julia Child has called "the best chef in America" tells the story of his rise from a frightened apprentice in an exacting Old World kitchen to an Emmy Award-winning superstar who taught millions of Americans how to cook and shaped the nation's tastes in the bargain. The Apprentice is the poignant and sometimes funny tale of a boy's coming of age. Beyond that, it is the story of America's culinary awakening and the transformation of food from an afterthought to a national preoccupation.
-
-
Jacques Pépin never has disappointed
- By Peter on 10-03-20
By: Jacques Pépin
-
Capote's Women
- A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era
- By: Laurence Leamer
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times bestselling author Laurence Leamer reveals the complex web of relationships and scandalous true stories behind Truman Capote's never-published final novel, Answered Prayers—the dark secrets, tragic glamour, and Capote's ultimate betrayal of the group of female friends he called his "swans."
-
-
You need to know a bit about the players
- By Etoile NEOhio on 12-30-21
By: Laurence Leamer
-
The Last Leonardo
- The Secret Lives of the World's Most Expensive Painting
- By: Ben Lewis
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s small oil painting the Salvator Mundi was sold at auction. In the words of its discoverer, the image of Christ as savior of the world is “the rarest thing on the planet.” Its $450 million sale price also makes it the world’s most expensive painting. For two centuries, art dealers had searched in vain for the Holy Grail of art history: a portrait of Christ as the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo’s assistants in the early 16th century.
-
-
Definitely makes you think.
- By John Galt on 04-20-21
By: Ben Lewis
-
Save Me the Plums
- My Gourmet Memoir
- By: Ruth Reichl
- Narrated by: Ruth Reichl
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Condé Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at America’s oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, and had no inclination to be anyone’s boss. Yet Reichl had been reading Gourmet since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no? This is the story of a former Berkeley hippie entering the corporate world and worrying about losing her soul. It is the story of the moment restaurants became an important part of popular culture, a time when the rise of the farm-to-table movement changed, forever, the way we eat.
-
-
Great book, shame there wasn't a recipe PDF
- By Kathleen on 05-14-19
By: Ruth Reichl
-
32 Yolks
- From My Mother's Table to Working the Line
- By: Eric Ripert, Veronica Chambers
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an industry where celebrity chefs are known as much for their salty talk and quick tempers as their food, Eric Ripert stands out. The winner of four James Beard Awards, co-owner and chef of a world-renowned restaurant, and recipient of countless Michelin stars, Ripert embodies elegance and culinary perfection. But before the accolades, before he even knew how to make a proper hollandaise sauce, Eric Ripert was a lonely young boy in the south of France whose life was falling apart.
-
-
Every aspiring cook needs to read this
- By PatrickV on 07-01-16
By: Eric Ripert, and others
-
The Devil in the Kitchen
- Sex, Pain, Madness, and the Making of a Great Chef
- By: Marco Pierre White, James Steen
- Narrated by: Timothy Bentinck
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Devil in the Kitchen, White tells the story behind his ascent from working-class roots to culinary greatness, leaving no dish unserved as he relays raucous and revealing tales featuring some of the biggest names in the food world and beyond, including: Mario Batali, Gordon Ramsay, Albert Roux, Raymond Blanc, Michael Caine, Damien Hirst, and even Prince Charles.
-
-
A chef / restaurateur must.
- By Brandon on 07-18-16
By: Marco Pierre White, and others
-
Hungry
- Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World
- By: Jeff Gordinier
- Narrated by: Jeff Gordinier
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Feeling stuck in his work and home life, writer Jeff Gordinier happened into a fateful meeting with Danish chef René Redzepi, whose restaurant, Noma, has been called the best in the world. A restless perfectionist, Redzepi was at the top of his game but was looking to tear it all down, to shutter his restaurant and set out for new places, flavors, and recipes. This is the story of the subsequent four years of globe-trotting culinary adventure, with Gordinier joining Redzepi as his Sancho Panza.
-
-
disappointing story and awkward narration
- By MBS on 08-16-19
By: Jeff Gordinier
-
Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll
- How Food Lovers, Free Spirits, Misfits and Wanderers Created a New American Profession
- By: Andrew Friedman
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll transports listeners back in time to witness the remarkable evolution of the American restaurant chef in the 1970s and 1980s. Andrew Friedman goes inside Chez Panisse and other Bay Area restaurants to show how the politically charged backdrop of Berkeley helped spark this new profession; into the historically underrated community of Los Angeles chefs, including a young Wolfgang Puck; and into the clash of cultures between established French chefs in New York City and the American game changers.
-
-
the reader makes the audiobook - unfortunately
- By Lawrie Thicke on 04-20-19
By: Andrew Friedman
-
My Life in France
- By: Julia Child, Alex Prud'Homme
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This memoir is laced with wonderful stories about the French character, particularly in the world of food, and the way of life that Julia Child embraced so wholeheartedly. Above all, she reveals the kind of spirit and determination, the sheer love of cooking, and the drive to share that with her fellow Americans that made her the extraordinary success she became.
-
-
What a pleasure!
- By Sara on 07-03-08
By: Julia Child, and others
-
Picasso's War
- How Modern Art Came to America
- By: Hugh Eakin
- Narrated by: Mack Sanderson
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In January 1939, Pablo Picasso was renowned in Europe but disdained by many in the United States. One year later, Americans across the country were clamoring to see his art. How did the controversial leader of the Paris avant-garde break through to the heart of American culture? The answer begins a generation earlier, when a renegade Irish American lawyer named John Quinn set out to build the greatest collection of Picassos in existence. His dream of a museum to house them died with him, until it was rediscovered by Alfred H. Barr, Jr.
-
-
Better Books on Picasso Available
- By john burke on 08-17-22
By: Hugh Eakin
-
A Gentleman in Moscow
- A Novel
- By: Amor Towles
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 17 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.
-
-
A Reprieve Amidst Ugly News, Relentless Negativity
- By Cathy Lindhorst on 08-27-17
By: Amor Towles
-
Life, on the Line
- A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat
- By: Grant Achatz, Nick Kokonas
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2007 chef Grant Achatz seemingly had it made. He had been named one of the best new chefs in America by Food & Wine in 2002, received the James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef of the Year Award in 2003, and in 2005 he and Nick Kokonas opened the conceptually radical restaurant Alinea, which was named Best Restaurant in America by Gourmet magazine. Then, Achatz was diagnosed with stage IV squamous cell carcinoma - tongue cancer.
-
-
A Tasteless World?
- By Exec. Chef 'Special K' on 03-18-14
By: Grant Achatz, and others
-
We Are What We Eat
- A Slow Food Manifesto
- By: Alice Waters
- Narrated by: Alice Waters
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In We Are What We Eat, Alice Waters urges us to take up the mantle of slow food culture, the philosophy at the core of her life’s work. When Waters first opened Chez Panisse in 1971, she did so with the intention of feeding people good food during a time of political turmoil. Customers responded to the locally sourced organic ingredients, to the dishes made by hand, and to the welcoming hospitality that infused the small space - human qualities that were disappearing from a country increasingly seduced by takeout, frozen dinners, and prepackaged ingredients.
-
-
Good message, but take with a grain of salt
- By Carson on 02-16-23
By: Alice Waters
-
Chef's PSA
- How Not to Be the Biggest Idiot in the Kitchen
- By: Andre Natera
- Narrated by: Gabriel Couret
- Length: 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you have ever worked in a professional kitchen, are in culinary school, or are thinking about a career as a chef, then you need this audiobook. It will guide you on the behaviors of top chefs and how to conduct yourself in the kitchen. This audiobook is filled with short little lessons—or PSAs—that every cook needs to know to get along successfully in the kitchen. The great thing about this book is that it is a guide for you both early in your career and later when you are developing others. The rules in the book can change from kitchen to kitchen, but most are culinary truisms.
-
-
Solid
- By Amazon Customer on 12-09-22
By: Andre Natera
-
Status and Culture
- How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change
- By: W. David Marx
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Status signaling isn’t just the province of the immature or insecure but a fundamental human need to secure social standing. It drives our behavior, forms our tastes, determines what we buy, and ultimately shapes who we are. It’s what’s behind “cool” and what drives fashion, music, food, sports, slang, travel, hairstyles, and dog breeds—and even the outsize influence of unpopular things with the “right” audience.
-
-
Superb
- By Josiah Potter on 12-09-22
By: W. David Marx
Critic reviews
“In this winningly-told story, Luke Barr explores the advent of the luxe life through the saga of hotelier Cesar Ritz and chef August Escoffier, whose partnership brought us not only the adjective 'ritzy', itself no small testament, but also such once-novel phenomena as hotel rooms with their own bathrooms, and innovative dishes like peach Melba. It’s a charming tale of success, scandal, and redemption - complete with an unexpected villain. Trigger alert: It will make you hungry, and a little nostalgic for bygone times.” (Erik Larson, number one New York Times best-selling author of Dead Wake and Devil in the White City)
"Ritz and Escoffier, Luke Barr’s entertaining narrative history, reads like a novel…Mr. Barr has done a fine job evoking fin-de-siecle London and the characters of the two odd men who played such a pivotal role in that exhilarating time.” (Wall Street Journal)
"When you eat a Peach Melba, or drink a Grand Marnier, you have these men to thank; they coined the names, then popularised the concoctions. Ritz himself became not merely a byword for luxury but the actual word for it." (The Economist)
“Barr’s prose is lively and his sourcing impeccable...a thoroughly enjoyable look into a defining moment of culinary history.” (Publishers Weekly)
Related to this topic
-
What She Ate
- Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories
- By: Laura Shapiro
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr, Laura Shapiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A beloved culinary historian's short takes on six famous women through the lens of food and cooking - what they ate and how their attitudes toward food offer surprising new insights into their lives. It's a lively and unpredictable array of women; what they have in common with one another (and us) is a powerful relationship with food.
-
-
Interesting, but don't think the book's premise...
- By Jay Quintana on 09-15-17
By: Laura Shapiro
-
Provence, 1970
- M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste
- By: Luke Barr
- Narrated by: John Rubinstein
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery.
-
-
Superb Narration, Engrossing Tale
- By Robert R. on 10-22-13
By: Luke Barr
-
Ferran
- The Inside Story of El Bulli and the Man Who Reinvented Food
- By: Colman Andrews
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his lively, unprecedented close-up portrait of Ferran Adrià, award-winning food writer Colman Andrews traces this groundbreaking chef’s rise from resort hotel dishwasher to culinary deity, and the evolution of El Bulli from a German-owned beach bar into the establishment voted annually by an international jury to be “the world’s best restaurant”.
-
-
recasting needed
- By Marco I on 09-09-18
By: Colman Andrews
-
Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll
- How Food Lovers, Free Spirits, Misfits and Wanderers Created a New American Profession
- By: Andrew Friedman
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll transports listeners back in time to witness the remarkable evolution of the American restaurant chef in the 1970s and 1980s. Andrew Friedman goes inside Chez Panisse and other Bay Area restaurants to show how the politically charged backdrop of Berkeley helped spark this new profession; into the historically underrated community of Los Angeles chefs, including a young Wolfgang Puck; and into the clash of cultures between established French chefs in New York City and the American game changers.
-
-
the reader makes the audiobook - unfortunately
- By Lawrie Thicke on 04-20-19
By: Andrew Friedman
-
Eiffel's Tower
- And the World's Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris
- By: Dr. Jill Jonnes
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reminiscent of Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, this fascinating account from acclaimed author Jill Jonnes recaptures the 1889 Paris World's Fair. Casting vehement criticism aside, Gustave Eiffel built his tower to be the fair's centerpiece. Perched at the top all summer, he hosted a string of dignitaries.
-
-
Just read the first half
- By Julie W. Capell on 11-08-09
By: Dr. Jill Jonnes
-
The Housekeeper's Tale
- The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
- By: Tessa Boase
- Narrated by: Tessa Boase
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Housekeeper's Tale reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Using secret diaries, unpublished letters, and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households.
-
-
Utterly intriguing
- By Pamela Jane on 09-14-17
By: Tessa Boase
-
What She Ate
- Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories
- By: Laura Shapiro
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr, Laura Shapiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A beloved culinary historian's short takes on six famous women through the lens of food and cooking - what they ate and how their attitudes toward food offer surprising new insights into their lives. It's a lively and unpredictable array of women; what they have in common with one another (and us) is a powerful relationship with food.
-
-
Interesting, but don't think the book's premise...
- By Jay Quintana on 09-15-17
By: Laura Shapiro
-
Provence, 1970
- M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste
- By: Luke Barr
- Narrated by: John Rubinstein
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery.
-
-
Superb Narration, Engrossing Tale
- By Robert R. on 10-22-13
By: Luke Barr
-
Ferran
- The Inside Story of El Bulli and the Man Who Reinvented Food
- By: Colman Andrews
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his lively, unprecedented close-up portrait of Ferran Adrià, award-winning food writer Colman Andrews traces this groundbreaking chef’s rise from resort hotel dishwasher to culinary deity, and the evolution of El Bulli from a German-owned beach bar into the establishment voted annually by an international jury to be “the world’s best restaurant”.
-
-
recasting needed
- By Marco I on 09-09-18
By: Colman Andrews
-
Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll
- How Food Lovers, Free Spirits, Misfits and Wanderers Created a New American Profession
- By: Andrew Friedman
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll transports listeners back in time to witness the remarkable evolution of the American restaurant chef in the 1970s and 1980s. Andrew Friedman goes inside Chez Panisse and other Bay Area restaurants to show how the politically charged backdrop of Berkeley helped spark this new profession; into the historically underrated community of Los Angeles chefs, including a young Wolfgang Puck; and into the clash of cultures between established French chefs in New York City and the American game changers.
-
-
the reader makes the audiobook - unfortunately
- By Lawrie Thicke on 04-20-19
By: Andrew Friedman
-
Eiffel's Tower
- And the World's Fair Where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris
- By: Dr. Jill Jonnes
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reminiscent of Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, this fascinating account from acclaimed author Jill Jonnes recaptures the 1889 Paris World's Fair. Casting vehement criticism aside, Gustave Eiffel built his tower to be the fair's centerpiece. Perched at the top all summer, he hosted a string of dignitaries.
-
-
Just read the first half
- By Julie W. Capell on 11-08-09
By: Dr. Jill Jonnes
-
The Housekeeper's Tale
- The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
- By: Tessa Boase
- Narrated by: Tessa Boase
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Housekeeper's Tale reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Using secret diaries, unpublished letters, and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households.
-
-
Utterly intriguing
- By Pamela Jane on 09-14-17
By: Tessa Boase
-
Fortune's Children
- The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt
- By: Arthur T. Vanderbilt II
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by descendant Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, Fortune's Children traces the dramatic and amazingly colorful history of this great American family, from the rise of industrialist and philanthropist Cornelius Vanderbilt to the fall of his progeny - wild spendthrifts whose profligacy bankrupted a vast inheritance.
-
-
The Rise and Fall of the Gilded Age
- By Hilary on 10-22-14
-
Paris to the Moon
- By: Adam Gopnik
- Narrated by: Adam Gopnik
- Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paris. The name alone conjures images of chestnut-lined boulevards, sidewalk cafés, breathtaking façades around every corner: in short, an exquisite romanticism that has captured the American imagination for as long as there have been Americans.
-
-
Wish this wasn't abridged!!
- By Sarah D. on 03-25-17
By: Adam Gopnik
-
The Riviera Set
- Glitz, Glamour, and the Hidden World of High Society
- By: Mary S. Lovell
- Narrated by: Jill Rolls
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Riviera Set reveals the story of the group of people who lived, partied, bed-hopped, and politicked at the Château de l'Horizon near Cannes, over the course of 40 years from the time when Coco Chanel made southern French tans fashionable in the twenties to the death of the playboy Prince Aly Khan in 1960. At the heart of dynamic group was the amazing Maxine Elliott, the daughter of a fisherman from Connecticut, who built the beautiful art deco Château.
-
-
Riviera Set
- By Lois Kelly on 05-04-18
By: Mary S. Lovell
-
Mar-a-Lago
- Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump's Presidential Palace
- By: Laurence Leamer
- Narrated by: Todd McClaren
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To know Donald J. Trump - to understand what makes the 45th president of the US tick - it is best to start in his natural habitat: Palm Beach, Florida. It is here he learned the techniques that took him all the way to the White House. Painstakingly, over decades, he has created a world in this exclusive tropical enclave and favorite haunt of billionaires where he is not just president but a king. The vehicle for his triumph is Mar-a-Lago, one of the greatest mansions ever built in the US.
-
-
No surprises but would have liked more
- By B. Howard on 02-19-19
By: Laurence Leamer
-
Mad Women
- The Other Side of Life on Madison Avenue in the '60s and Beyond
- By: Jane Maas
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mad Women is a tell-all account of life in the New York advertising world of the 1960s and '70s from Jane Maas, a female copywriter who succeeded in the primarily male environment portrayed by the hit TV show Mad Men. Fans of the show are dying to know how accurate it is: did people really have that much sex in the office? Were there really three-martini lunches? Were women really second-class citizens? Jane Maas says the answer to all three questions is unequivocally yes....
-
-
Interesting Listen
- By Dean on 04-23-12
By: Jane Maas
-
Servants
- A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times
- By: Lucy Lethbridge
- Narrated by: Helen Stern
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the immense staff running a lavish Edwardian estate and the lonely maid-of-all-work cooking in a cramped middle-class house to the poor child doing chores in a slightly less poor household, servants were essential to the British way of life. They were hired not only for their skills but also to demonstrate the social standing of their employers - even as they were required to tread softly and blend into the background. More than simply the laboring class serving the upper crust - as popular culture would have us believe - they were a diverse group that shaped and witnessed major changes in the modern home, family, and social order.
-
-
Interesting but gaps in info, narration difficult
- By redsrule1 on 01-11-15
By: Lucy Lethbridge
-
The President's House
- A First Daughter Shares the History and Secrets of the World's Most Famous Home
- By: Margaret Truman
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Margaret Truman knows from firsthand experience, living in the White House can be exhilarating and maddening, alarming and exhausting, but it is certainly never dull. Part private residence, part goldfish bowl, and part national shrine, the White House is both the most important address in America and the most intensely scrutinized.
-
-
Awesome History!
- By LisaB on 02-18-20
By: Margaret Truman
-
Emily Post
- Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners
- By: Laura Claridge
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the excesses of the late 19th-century Gilded Age, through the horrors of World War I, to the transformations of the Roaring 20s that gave birth to her magisterial Etiquette, Emily Post unfailingly took the measure of her era. A Baltimore blue blood with a populist heart, she helped the masses live the American dream with her hugely popular book, which has been continuously in print for over 85 years.
-
-
Typical for Emily Post
- By Stephanie on 01-07-19
By: Laura Claridge
-
The Husband Hunters
- American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy
- By: Anne de Courcy
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Towards the end of the 19th century and for the first few years of the 20th, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege, and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, 50 years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known "Dollar Princess", married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage....
-
-
Bondfide Valuable History Lesson
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 09-21-18
By: Anne de Courcy
-
Wait for Me!
- Memoirs
- By: Deborah Mitford Duchess of Devonshire
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, is the youngest of the famously witty brood that includes the writers Jessica and Nancy, who wrote when Deborah was born, "How disgusting of the poor darling to go and be a girl." Deborah's effervescent memoir chronicles her remarkable life, from an eccentric but happy childhood in the Oxfordshire countryside, to tea with Adolf Hitler and her controversially political sister Unity in 1937, to her marriage to the second son of the Duke of Devonshire.
-
-
The last of the Mitford Sisters
- By Irene on 01-11-11
-
The City of Falling Angels
- By: John Berendt
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns to give us an intimate look at the "magic, mystery, and decadence" of the city of Venice and its inhabitants.
-
-
Do Yourself a Favor and Skip This Book!
- By AUDIBLE on 10-08-05
By: John Berendt
-
Gordon Ramsay
- On Top of the World
- By: Neil Simpson
- Narrated by: Richard Aspel
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best known as the host of Fox's Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon Ramsay is one of the most driven, successful, and irate chefs around. He has thrown Hollywood actresses out of his restaurants and is notorious for his anger, but his food has been served to numerous heads of state, and he is one of only three chefs in England whose restaurant is rated at three Michelin stars. Sometimes hilarious and frequently heartbreaking, this is Gordon Ramsay’s full life, from tenements and poverty to top-notch restaurants and fame.
-
-
Well Done
- By Stephanie curry on 01-30-15
By: Neil Simpson
What listeners say about Ritz and Escoffier
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lidija Fairbanks
- 06-15-23
I enjoyed this book very much
Beautifully written book and narrating was excellent. I loved learning about the history and the name behind this great hotel.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ryan
- 12-20-23
Fascinating subject
Eye-opening historical account of how luxury hotels evolved at the turn of the 20th century, as well as the you-could-never-guess expansive influence they had- and still have to this day.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dick Diver
- 01-08-23
A rich and lavish serving of nostalgia
Languishes occasionally in encyclopedic lists and details, but a well researched trip to fin du siecle Europe
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ivor
- 11-12-24
Wow
Loved learning how these two rose to fame and notoriety . What an incredible time in history .
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- D. McBreairty
- 02-13-19
AMAZING Read
Absolutely loved this book. If you love food and travel, this is a MUST read!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- gary lehy
- 01-09-23
BONBON
Great book especially if you're a foodie Very informative well narrated and I've been fortunate to have been to pretty much all of a hotels and restaurants that are mentioned
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Renee Betancourt
- 03-26-19
Fascinating story!
I loved this book! Very well written, with excellent narration. It “reads” like a novel. I felt as if I was there...a pampered guest at the Savoy or the Ritz.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard Jones
- 05-13-21
Two guys at the absolute top of there trade,,,,
,,,Hi,,,very informative listening, of two guys at the absolute top ,,of there trade ,,hotelier and chef ,,narration so very good,,you will not be disappointed,,, Richard Anthony Jones,,,
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert
- 07-24-19
What a time to be alive!
This was a very interesting origin story to the man, the hotel, the legend that is Ritz. A man with the foresight and dedication to invent luxury hospitality. The book does a tremendous job of describing the scenes, food, and events that built the brand of Ritx. Interesting to see how many of these concepts stay true today. People complain about the showiness of the instagram age - this guy invented the concept of going out to see and be seen. Flashy consumption was invented here, modern technology has just expanded the distribution.
Also, I found it interesting to learn about other brand and taste creators that were in the same scene at the same time. Fun read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 01-24-19
magnificent
astounding, the history and story of this piece is made alive by a great performance.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful