What does it take to master French cooking? This question drives Bill Buford to abandon his happy life in New York City, and—with his wife and three-year-old twin sons—move to Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France. But as Buford reveals in this "profound and intuitive work of immersive journalism" (NYTimes), what was meant to be six months in a new city turns into a wild five-year digression from normal life, as he apprentices at Lyon's best boulangerie, studies at a legendary culinary school, and cooks at a storied Michelin-starred restaurant.

"Pure pleasure…. If you care at all about food, about writing, about obsessive people with a sense of adventure, you have to read this book. It is, in a word, wonderful."—Ruth Reichl