Left with an unusual inheritance, a young woman navigates Paris alone in the 1980s, finding a city that is a true feast for the senses filled with food, fashion, and art. This year's All Henrico Reads title, The Paris Novel, is the most recent book by the James Beard Award-winning author, food editor, and restaurant critic Ruth Reichl.

A “mouthwatering” (The New York Times) adventure through the food, art, and fashion scenes of 1980s Paris, from the bestselling author of Save Me the Plums and Delicious!

"An enchanting and irresistible feast…As with a perfect meal in the world’s most magical city, I never wanted this sublime novel to end.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of Good Company

Ruth Reichl is the New York Times bestselling author of five memoirs, novels, and the cookbook My Kitchen Year. She was editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, a restaurant critic for The New York Times, and a food editor and restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times. Reichl has been honored with six James Beard Awards, and in 2024 received the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award.

Reichl is recognized as one of the leading voices in the culinary world. She was born and raised in New York City and moved to Berkeley, California in the early 1970s. She began her career there as chef and co-owner of Swallow Restaurant. Reichl went on to become one of the top restaurant critics in America, a best-selling author, and host of the PBS series Gourmet's Adventures with Ruth. A favorite with audiences of all flavors, Ruth shares her current musings on her La Briffe Substack channel.

—Bio and photo from Robin Wolfson Agency

Ruth Reichl was amazing…the audience was wildly passionate about hearing her. It goes without saying that her lecture was magnificent: clear, articulate, intelligent, insightful, and informative. —Dartmouth University

It was fabulous. Everyone LOVED Ruth Reichl…She was the hit of the party. —Woodstock Writers Festival

Ruth Reichl began her talk at the Hartford Public Library with a nod to the importance of libraries, and then worked her way, with referential charm, through the stacks. History, her own and that of dining in America; sociology, the delight of her own odd family and that of wavering social construct; commerce, her ability to find a way to succeed as each chapter ends, and that of the sad slaughter of Gourmet; non-fiction, her response to the vagaries of consumption and that of the country's cultural shape-shifting around how we iconize food; and finally fiction, the costumed years as the New York Times food critic and now her wonderful Lulu. —Hartford (Connecticut) Public Library

We are over the moon after hosting Ruth yesterday and today. She made a big impact with our community, and we're so grateful for her involvement. —Yakima (Washington) Town Hall

We certainly did enjoy Ruth. I would say: best keynote speaker ever! And the easiest, and the most fun…She was just great. —Kentucky Women's Writers Conference

All Henrico Reads is a "One Book" reading program in which we encourage members of the Henrico community to all read the same book or a book along the same topic, then discuss it together—whether at HCPL book discussion groups, or on their own—and join us to hear the author speak at a public event. By bringing people together over a common topic, we aim to encourage a sense of community, promote literacy, and foster a love for the connecting power of literature.

Since 2007, we have partnered with Henrico County Public Schools and the Friends of Henrico County Public Library to host the authors of our featured books at a public event. We thank them for their support.