Here are 7 books that Jacqueline in Paris fans have personally recommended if you like Jacqueline in Paris. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love

Marianne C. Bohr Author Of The Twenty: One Woman's Trek Across Corsica on the GR20 Trail

From Marianne's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Terminal wanderlust Francophile Outdoors nut Travel writer Introverted

Marianne's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Marianne C. Bohr Why Marianne loves this book

I loved learning about the author’s marriage and it raised so many questions about what makes us who we are.

By Dani Shapiro ,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Inheritance as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the acclaimed author of Inheritance and host of the hit podcast Family Secrets: a memoir about the staggering family secret uncovered by a genealogy test, an exploration of the urgent ethical questions surrounding fertility treatments and DNA testing, and a profound inquiry of paternity, identity, and love.

“Memoir gold: a profound and exquisitely rendered exploration of identity and the true meaning of family.” —People

In the spring of 2016, through a genealogy website to which she had casually submitted her DNA for analysis, Dani Shapiro received the stunning news that her beloved deceased father…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of Memorial Days

francine corry

From francine's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why francine loves this book

I love the books of both Geraldine Brooks and Tony Horwitz. I was saddened by his death and I felt for Geraldine in our journey of grief.

By Geraldine Brooks ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Memorial Days as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A heartrending and beautiful memoir of sudden loss and a journey to peace, from the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Horse.

Many cultural and religious traditions expect those who are grieving to step away from the world. In contemporary life, we are more often met with red tape and to-do lists. This is exactly what happened to Geraldine Brooks when her partner of more than three decades, Tony Horwitz - just sixty years old and, to her knowledge, vigorous and healthy - collapsed and died on a Washington, D. C. sidewalk.

After spending their early years together in conflict zones…


Book cover of Lunch in Paris

K. Lang-Slattery Author Of Wherever the Road Leads

From my list on travel memoirs with bonus recipes or illustrations.

Why am I passionate about this?

My favorite memoirs are joyful, personal, and uplifting, especially those that tell of travel, intercultural understanding, food, cooking, creating art, and personal growth, all subjects for which I am passionate. Years ago, I taught adults cooking, specializing in the food from places I had traveled (India, China, Iran, Denmark, Spain, Afghanistan). Now, at 82, though I live alone, I still cook every day and collect recipes to try. When I was writing my own travel memoir, I constantly read other memoirs, always searching for the best of the best.  I found I especially loved books that included recipes, maps, or illustrations. These recommendations are only a few of my favorites.

K.'s book list on travel memoirs with bonus recipes or illustrations

K. Lang-Slattery Why K. loves this book

Who could resist this first line? “I slept with my French husband halfway through our first date.”  Not me!  Elizabeth Bard, in Paris for the weekend, sits down to lunch with a handsome Frenchman and falls in love.  

Bard reveals how, despite her dreams of success, she was able to reinvent herself after marrying a Frenchman and moving to France. The included recipes run the gamut from what he cooked for her after they first made love to French dinner party food and traditional favorites from her American-Jewish family

This memoir of finding a new life in the City of Lights is well-written, humorous, and personal. If you, like me, have ever fantasized that Paris could change your life, this book is a must-read.

By Elizabeth Bard ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lunch in Paris as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Paris for a weekend visit, Elizabeth Bard sat down to lunch with a handsome Frenchman -- and never went home again.

Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slid effortlessly through her pavé au poivre, the steak's pink juices puddling into the buttery pepper sauce? Lunch in Paris is a memoir about a young American woman caught up in two passionate love affairs -- one with her new beau, Gwendal, the other with French cuisine. Packing her bags for a new life in the world's most romantic city, Elizabeth is plunged into a…


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Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of A Pig in Provence

K. Lang-Slattery Author Of Wherever the Road Leads

From my list on travel memoirs with bonus recipes or illustrations.

Why am I passionate about this?

My favorite memoirs are joyful, personal, and uplifting, especially those that tell of travel, intercultural understanding, food, cooking, creating art, and personal growth, all subjects for which I am passionate. Years ago, I taught adults cooking, specializing in the food from places I had traveled (India, China, Iran, Denmark, Spain, Afghanistan). Now, at 82, though I live alone, I still cook every day and collect recipes to try. When I was writing my own travel memoir, I constantly read other memoirs, always searching for the best of the best.  I found I especially loved books that included recipes, maps, or illustrations. These recommendations are only a few of my favorites.

K.'s book list on travel memoirs with bonus recipes or illustrations

K. Lang-Slattery Why K. loves this book

Disclosure: This memoir is by a high school classmate. Georgeanne Brennan is an award-winning cookbook author (James Beard award), writer, and teacher who specializes in food with a Mediterranean slant. Her delightful memoir tells the fascinating true story of her move to Provence, France, in the 1970s with her husband and a toddler. 

Brennan writes about changing one’s life, raising goats, learning to make cheese, hunting for truffles, and eating luscious meals with neighbors. She makes me want to move to the French countryside. If only I could speak French!

I loved the descriptions of food and the traditional ways of preparing and eating it in a French village. Each chapter ends with one of Georgeanne’s delicious recipes for a Provencal dish. What a bonus!

By Georgeanne Brennan ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Pig in Provence as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Each chapter is centered around a traditional Provencal food or meal, and the narrative is sprinkled in equal parts with local color, delicious recipes, and historical and cultural perspective on a region that has captivated travellers (and gourmands) for centuries.


Book cover of Mastering the Art of French Eating

K. Lang-Slattery Author Of Wherever the Road Leads

From my list on travel memoirs with bonus recipes or illustrations.

Why am I passionate about this?

My favorite memoirs are joyful, personal, and uplifting, especially those that tell of travel, intercultural understanding, food, cooking, creating art, and personal growth, all subjects for which I am passionate. Years ago, I taught adults cooking, specializing in the food from places I had traveled (India, China, Iran, Denmark, Spain, Afghanistan). Now, at 82, though I live alone, I still cook every day and collect recipes to try. When I was writing my own travel memoir, I constantly read other memoirs, always searching for the best of the best.  I found I especially loved books that included recipes, maps, or illustrations. These recommendations are only a few of my favorites.

K.'s book list on travel memoirs with bonus recipes or illustrations

K. Lang-Slattery Why K. loves this book

The subtitle, Lessons in Food and Love from a Year in Paris, drew me to this memoir of a woman stranded in the city of her dreams without her husband. She fills her lonely days learning about French food. I enjoyed the memoir’s structure. Each chapter studies an iconic local dish: the history of the dish, the way it is made, her travels to find it, and tasting...lots of tasting. Her recipes, adjusted for American kitchens, are the bonus de resistance.  

But Mah doesn’t write only about food. She also shares her struggles with loneliness, missing her husband, and finding her way around France on her own. I totally recommend this personal and informative memoir by a Chinese American Francophile. 

By Ann Mah ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mastering the Art of French Eating as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The memoir of a young diplomat's wife who must reinvent her dream of living in Paris—one dish at a time

When journalist Ann Mah's diplomat husband is given a three-year assignment in Paris, Ann is overjoyed. A lifelong foodie and Francophile, she immediately begins plotting gastronomic adventures à deux. Then her husband is called away to Iraq on a year-long post—alone. Suddenly, Ann's vision of a romantic sojourn in the City of Light is turned upside down.

So, not unlike another diplomatic wife, Julia Child, Ann must find a life for herself in a new city.  Journeying through Paris and…


Book cover of An Embarrassment of Mangoes

K. Lang-Slattery Author Of Wherever the Road Leads

From my list on travel memoirs with bonus recipes or illustrations.

Why am I passionate about this?

My favorite memoirs are joyful, personal, and uplifting, especially those that tell of travel, intercultural understanding, food, cooking, creating art, and personal growth, all subjects for which I am passionate. Years ago, I taught adults cooking, specializing in the food from places I had traveled (India, China, Iran, Denmark, Spain, Afghanistan). Now, at 82, though I live alone, I still cook every day and collect recipes to try. When I was writing my own travel memoir, I constantly read other memoirs, always searching for the best of the best.  I found I especially loved books that included recipes, maps, or illustrations. These recommendations are only a few of my favorites.

K.'s book list on travel memoirs with bonus recipes or illustrations

K. Lang-Slattery Why K. loves this book

While my previous three recommended memoirs feature French cooking, this one is about the Caribbean. In the early 1990s, the author and her husband rented their home and moved onto a 42-foot sailboat for a two-year sailing escapade.  

I loved this memoir for its descriptions of high adventure and the dangers of a sailing life. Vanderhoof’s wonderful selection of recipes stem from her experiences cooking in a tiny, sea-going kitchen. Starting with Chesapeake Bay crabcakes, Ann progresses to curried lobster, stewed conch, and Piῆa Colada cheesecake. 

Storms, friends, danger, repairs, the search for local food, and cooking combine to create a page-turning and delicious story—for me, a memoir similar to my own life-changing experience and resulting memoir.

By Ann Vanderhoof ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked An Embarrassment of Mangoes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Under the Tuscan Sun meets the wide-open sea . . . An Embarrassment of Mangoes is a delicious chronicle of leaving the type-A lifestyle behind—and discovering the seductive secrets of life in the Caribbean.

Who hasn't fantasized about chucking the job, saying goodbye to the rat race, and escaping to some exotic destination in search of sun, sand, and a different way of life? Canadians Ann Vanderhoof and her husband, Steve did just that.

In the mid 1990s, they were driven, forty-something professionals who were desperate for a break from their deadline-dominated, career-defined lives. So they quit their jobs, rented…


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Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of Paris Letters

K. Lang-Slattery Author Of Wherever the Road Leads

From my list on travel memoirs with bonus recipes or illustrations.

Why am I passionate about this?

My favorite memoirs are joyful, personal, and uplifting, especially those that tell of travel, intercultural understanding, food, cooking, creating art, and personal growth, all subjects for which I am passionate. Years ago, I taught adults cooking, specializing in the food from places I had traveled (India, China, Iran, Denmark, Spain, Afghanistan). Now, at 82, though I live alone, I still cook every day and collect recipes to try. When I was writing my own travel memoir, I constantly read other memoirs, always searching for the best of the best.  I found I especially loved books that included recipes, maps, or illustrations. These recommendations are only a few of my favorites.

K.'s book list on travel memoirs with bonus recipes or illustrations

K. Lang-Slattery Why K. loves this book

As an artist, I simply fell in love with this book about the author’s journey from a stressed advertising executive to a strolling artist. And yes, it is another memoir about falling in love in Paris. This one offers a different bonus: black and white illustrations that only hint at the vibrant, colorful watercolors featured in MacLeod’s next two books

Written with humor and intimacy, it offers a look at simplifying a fast-track life to allow for a year of travel. Besides being an uplifting read, this memoir features practical advice to make the dream of living abroad a reality–plus an additional bonus at the end–a list of tips on how to save/make $100 a day to set aside for a “break year.” 

By Janice MacLeod ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Paris Letters as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A New York Times bestseller
For readers of Eat Pray Love, Under the Tuscan Sun, and The 4-Hour Workweek, comes a funny, romantic, and inspiring travel memoir about a woman who quits her job, moves to Paris, and finds love-and herself.
With romantic Paris as the backdrop and beautifully illustrated with the author's own sketches, Paris Letters is for those who dream of a life richer and more fulfilling than the one they are living today.
Exhausted and on the verge of burnout, Janice MacLeod cuts back, saves up, and buys herself two years of freedom in Europe. In Paris,…


Book cover of Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
Book cover of Memorial Days
Book cover of Lunch in Paris

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