Praise for Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen
“This is a remarkable first novel — thoughtful, versatile and an extremely good read.”
— Penelope Lively
“Usually it is a sufficient accomplishment for an author to set a work of fiction in a single place and time and create characters whose voices and actions resonate with authenticity. It is much more of an achievement for an author to set a novel in three different locales and three distinct periods and still have it emerge with genuine characters whose thoughts, words and actions move and inspire… Language and history, like love itself, lie at the heart of this poignant and multi-textured novel… [an] intelligent and accomplished work of fiction.”
— Winnipeg Free Press
“Take this splendid book to bed with you… It will be a surprise if Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen doesn’t work its way on to thousands of bedside tables with the same word-of-mouth recommendation that turned Mary Lawson’s Crow Lake into a bestseller.”
— The Globe and Mail
“Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen reads like a dream, meticulously crafted and researched, sophisticated in style and structure.”
— National Post
“Kate Taylor achieves, with seemingly effortless grace, a remarkable feat: the near-perfect balance between being true to history and writing an engaging and fictional tale… In a harmonious weaving of history and fiction, the author recreates the essence of time past, gently enveloping her characters in their context without ever overwhelming them… Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen marks the stunning emergence of a writer from whom we can expect much in the future.”
— Calgary Herald
“…the parallel portraits of old and new worlds are vividly atmospheric. This well-written, melancholy story contains a lot to admire — not least Marie’s conclusion: ‘I have found the cure for heartbreak. It is literature.’”
— Sunday Telegraph (U.K.)
“A work of sensitivity and depth from an author who writes perceptively, with many moments of lyricism.”
— The Vancouver Sun
“Taylor’s meticulously crafted novel is an impressive debut.”
— The Daily Mail (U.K.)
“Taylor has tackled these ideas with tenderness and subtlety; it is an ambitious project by a promising writer.”
— Times Literary Supplement (U.K.)
“Fans of A.S. Byatt will be intrigued by this book.”
— Flare
“Moving dextrously between Paris and Canada, Kate Taylor weaves together these disparate strands with great skill, sympathy and frequently arresting prose. She writes most beguilingly about identity, belonging and exile. But above all, these stories issue sharp warnings about the power and limitations of love, especially the parental variety.”
— The Guardian (U.K.)
“A moving meditation on Parisian and Toronto history.”
— Maclean’s