Luke Barr, the grand-nephew of the late food writer M. F. K. Fisher, has sold a book about her and her pals James Beard and Julia Child to Clarkson Potter, the food-centric imprint of Random House’s Crown division.
According to Clarkson editorial director Doris Cooper, the book will tell the story of a milestone winter in 1970 when Fisher, Child, and Beard—along with cooking teacher Simone Beck and food writer Richard Olney—all lived together as neighbors in Aix-en-Provence. The book, tentatively titled Provence, 1970, was sold at auction by literary agent David Kuhn for what several sources said was about a quarter million dollars. Thanks to the family connection, Mr. Barr—an editor at Travel & Leisure— will have extraordinary access to various primary sources, including, as one person put it, “all sorts of delicious letters.”
Furthermore, Ms. Cooper added, “there was a French chauffeur who knew them and drove them around, and Luke has a feeling that he may still be alive.”
