User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Erin French is the chef of the critically acclaimed The Lost Kitchen, one of the most exclusive restaurants in the country, where the only way to get a seat is to mail in a postcard and be entered into their lottery. There, you will compete with the other 20,000 postcards that came in for a chance to eat at this small 40-seat restaurant during its open season.
Finding Freedom details Chef French's journey from a young age discovering her love of food and cooking, to her early adult life of being a struggling single mom, to her rock bottom years of prescription pill and alcohol addiction, to becoming the successful woman that she is today. This was a journey fraught with peril and heartbreak, but also with healing and redemption.
A memoir is such a personal experience, and you can tell that French put her heart and soul into this. She went through some extremely traumatic experiences in her life, and it must have been hard to put it all in writing and to be so open to judgement and criticism. Yet she was brutally honest and often spent a lot of time on introspection to figure out her own role in what transpired. I admire her honesty and her unflinching ability to look at herself, something that is not easy for anyone to do, let alone in such a public forum.
But I had a few issues with this book that prevented me from connecting with it more. For one thing, her writing style is extremely descriptive and detailed. For example, if she's talking about her restaurant, she would describe everything about it, including its wall color, countertops, chairs and tables, lighting choices, silverware, napkins, plates and bowls, etc., leaving no detail unmentioned. That, plus her preference for long unbroken paragraphs, means that it's not unusual to turn to a new page, see a wall of text of nothing but descriptions. It made it hard for me to keep my attention, and when it did wander, I had trouble remembering where I was in the paragraph.
For a memoir, there's also a noticeable lack of anecdotes, especially towards the second half of the book. For example, she often talks about her son, but there isn't a single thing I remember about him because she never shared anything concrete. Or she often mentions that she and her sister don't get along, but didn't actually give any examples of what happened. Instead, she tells her story mostly through introspection, with events quickly summarized so that she can get to her thoughts and feelings on it, which is where she really spends the bulk of her time.
It was also extremely hard to read what happened to her. She grew up surrounded by toxic people and relationships. Instead of setting boundaries, she only knew how to enabled these people and to grab on ever harder, seeking their approval and affection. Then, when she became an adult, those were the only kinds of relationships she knew how to have and she went on to replicate them. It was really frustrating to see this happen when she was young, but it was even more so once she became an adult and continued in this toxic environment.
This is a very dark book, and I didn't realize going in that it would be so. What I thought I was getting is an inspirational story about a struggling chef finally making it in the culinary world, along with interesting tidbits of what it's like to be this profession. Instead this is really an addict's story of growing up in an abusive household, not learning the necessary skills to cope, and then using drugs and alcohol to do it. It's about hitting absolute rock bottom and then starting the long slow climb out into the light.
After everything she's been through, I'm glad Erin French got the success she worked so hard for. While I didn't completely connect with her memoir, I do think her restaurant sounds amazing, and I hope one day to have the chance to try it for myself.
My heartfelt thanks for the advance copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review.
Rating: really liked it
***AN INSPIRING MEMOIR ABOUT A WOMEN WHO NEVER LET GO OF HER PASSION***
Just when I was looking for something new and different to read this beautiful book showed up on my doorstep!!!! The gorgeous cover immediately called to me and I found the inside to be just as beautiful as the outside!!!!!!!!!!
I seldom read memoirs, I just never take the time to research that genre. Erin French’s memoir comes when she has reached a high in her career, her restaurant “The Lost Kitchen” is now well established in the town of Freedom, Maine. It is known worldwide for its “farm to table” menu and is booked months in advance. It is her journey to this place that is fascinating.
Born to a stern father who runs a local diner, French grew up in the restaurant’s kitchen. While very young she started with helping out with simple tasks and by the time she was a teenager she was working the line taking and then making and filling orders. Like most young people she was restless and anxious to flee this small town. She finally escaped Freedom to go to college only to find herself pregnant and homeless at 21.
What I loved was French’s complete honesty when talking about her journey. She never blamed anyone but herself for her many ups and downs in life. She was frank when discussing when she hit rock bottom, controlled by a manipulative husband who eventually even took full custody of her son while she was in rehab. He forced the closure of her first restaurant while she was in treatment. She was in danger of losing everything that she loved, her freedom, her restaurant and her son. She details her fall into drug addiction and how she clawed her way back to independence.
Food was always a focus in her life. She loved experimenting with new ways to use fresh, local produce and eventually her restaurant became well known by locals and foodies from far and wide, especially after it was featured in some food and travel magazines. She never went to culinary school but learned as she cooked and experimented.
She found in the end that Freedom, Maine was exactly where she wanted to be. She bought an old mill that had been abandoned for many years, it was reborn into a restaurant with the barn as a wine cellar. The women of Waldo County would be the ones that came to work for her and support her. “What we had in common was that we were all making and building a life here in this rural place that sometimes felt like the middle of nowhere, and knowing that we weren’t’ alone lent some sort of comforting strength”. Her success is hard earned and wow, I would love the chance to eat there someday!!!
I will leave you to read her amazing journey, it is eye opening, honest and filled with the kind of strength of character that we all aspire to.
I received this novel from the publisher, Celadon Books. All opinions are my own.
Rating: really liked it
Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story; Remaking a life from Scratch by Erin French is a 2021 Celadon Books publication.
An inspiring story of success! In this memoir, Erin French shares her life journey in an honest, emotionally raw voice. Her upbringing, her family dynamics, her first marriage, her lonely and extremely difficult battle with depression and substance abuse, hitting rock bottom and clawing her way back up to become a successful restaurant owner is often harrowing to read about, but rewarding in the end.
The Lost Kitchen is located in Freedom, Maine, which makes the title of the book a nice play on words. Freedom is a tiny little town, but the restaurant is known as a ‘dining destination’. Erin, and her restaurant, have been noticed and featured in the NYT and Martha Stewart Living, and Erin has shared her story on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and more.
Her journey to this point has been fraught with many roadblocks, mistakes, and challenges, but Erin dug deep to find the tenacity to turn her life around and the courage to grab her dream and make it come true.
Anytime I see someone work their up from rock bottom, having lost virtually everything, to reclaim their lives again, I find much hope and inspiration in their determination to fight back.
From a personal standpoint, Erin didn’t exactly make a good first impression. She got off on my bad side almost immediately by offending my religious beliefs. Although I bristled, I was able to shake it off and read the book with an open mind and by using my critical thinking cap.
I am glad I stayed with the book. Erin's battles with depression is especially grim, and her pain, literally jumps off the page. My heart went out to her, but I was also impressed by her strength and her love for her son, which inspired her fight to win.
It is good to see someone pull themselves back from the brink to find professional victory, and personal stability as well.
I’m happy Erin's talents are being recognized and sincerely hope she continues to enjoy much success and prosperity.
While I live a long way from Maine, I'll keep an eye out for more great reviews and features about Erin and her
The Lost Kitchen. 4 stars
Rating: really liked it
**Many thanks to @CeladonBooks and Erin French for an ARC of this book! Now available as of 4.6!**
A moving and inspiring journey, away from home and back again, with a tinge of rustic charm!Erin French is currently the owner and operator of the Lost Kitchen, an incredibly successful restaurant which imbues all of the quality of fine dining in a down-home country setting: a renovated old mill with the lovely sounds of a rushing waterfall in the background. Reservations are SO hard to come by, in fact, that French had to leave them to chance and random draw rather than utilize an online system...since a prior attempt to use a similar system was SO successful that it actually crashed the computer servers!
Far from this bountiful success, though, Erin's life as a young girl growing up in the tiny town of Freedom was shaped by the sky high expectations of her parents, living in her sister's shadow, and her father's cold and absent demeanor, further exacerbated by his struggles with alcohol. The one exception to this distance between father and daughter came in the form of food, as Erin's father begrudgingly incorporated his daughter into the family diner. From here, Erin takes us through changing expectations, an unplanned pregnancy, and a whirlwind and tumultuous marriage, and even takes the reader through a harrowing journey with addiction and her time in a facility, reminiscent of Girl, Interrupted. At the brink of self-destruction and with limited options, Erin's journey eventually takes her back towards her own liberation, fittingly---right back where she started---in the town of Freedom.
Though I am far from a foodie and was not familiar with Erin French or her restaurant prior to reading, this memoir was captivating from page one. French's use of language is as thoughtful, delicate, and artful as her culinary creations themselves. Her passion for food simmers from the page, and at times I could almost hear the pots and pans whistling and clanging behind me. Not only does Erin imbue her passion for food throughout the pages, she also explores the concept of personal freedom--freedom from the expectations of others, and the chains we assign ourselves through the burdens we bear, and
how good it feels to shrug them off and live life fearlessly, arm in arm with family and the friends who have become family.
I have certainly added The Lost Kitchen to my restaurant bucket list after reading this wonderful memoir, and applaud Erin French for her courage, resilience, and creativity. Be sure you pick up this memoir---and although it goes ENTIRELY without saying, do NOT read on an empty stomach!
#FindingFreedomMemoir #CeladonReads #partner
Rating: really liked it
Erin French’s story is an inspiring one, and foodies and fans of memoirs will especially love this one.
It wasn’t a straight path, from working in her dad’s diner to owning her own successful restaurant. There were highs and incredible lows along the way, rehab, a custody battle, and the potential loss of her business and livelihood.
Erin’s voice is refreshingly honest and down-to-earth. I admire her character and commitment to righting her own ship with grit and hard work. One day I’d love to visit her restaurant in Maine. Thanks to her beautiful writing I’ve got an amazing sense of the atmosphere there.
I received a gifted copy.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
Rating: really liked it
I love reading nonfiction but I love food even more. Not a big surprise I enjoyed this memoir written by a woman who has spent much of her life working in the food industry. As she writes about her life full of ups and downs, she also gives a ton of yummy food descriptions. A worthwhile read especially if you have a passion for food.
Erin French grew up in a small town in Maine and started working at her father's diner at a young age. Many, many years later she experienced tremendous success opening a restaurant that attracted customers from around the globe. So how did she get to that point? Well, read the book. She's been on an incredible journey full of times that were rough to put it mildly.
One of the things I liked reading about was Erin's farm to table approach to cooking. It's obvious she has a deep appreciation for ingredients some might call basic or simple but can be absolutely delicious. Give the girl a good tomato and she'll be quite content. I love to eat and some of my best vacation memories involve eating fantastic food at restaurants. If I ever find myself in Maine and am lucky enough to snag a reservation, I am going to eat at her restaurant for sure.
If you enjoy reading memoirs about someone overcoming adversity, give this book a look.
Thank you to Celadon Books for providing me with an advance copy. All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.
Rating: really liked it
Now Available!
This is an interesting and inspiring memoir about a woman who lost everything and clawed her way back to health and success.
I'm a huge fan of foodie books, and this one definitely has that--Erin started working in the diner her father owned from a young age, where she learned to work the food line and how to make various food items. She eventually started a supper club out of her house, which turned into a restaurant venture, but when her life hit rock bottom she lost it all and had to reinvent herself and her success.
Much of her story is heartbreaking--from an unplanned pregnancy to a terrible marriage to drug addiction, Erin had many things stacked against her in the path to success. However, with the help of her amazing mother, some fantastic friends, and some serious professional help, she was able to create the restaurant in her Maine hometown called The Lost Kitchen.
This was a very quick read for me, because I became very invested in the outcome and hoped that she would come out on top. Her vulnerability while telling her story shines from each page. This couldn't have been an easy book to write, to leave herself on the page and admit to her failures, yet her communication style is straightforward and she doesn't make excuses for her choices. The descriptions of her various food creations are vivid and sound delectable. She cooks in a way that appeals to me--simplicity with extravagance, and I would love to go there and try some of her dishes.
I thank Celadon for sending me an advance copy of this book. I voluntarily reviewed it and all opinions are my own. #celadonreads
Rating: really liked it
4.5 stars
I’m no food connoisseur, but I love to eat and I also enjoy reading about food, so chef Erin French’s new memoir
Finding Freedom is technically right up my alley. French fell in love with food while working the line at her dad’s diner as a teenager and later on, as a young adult, maintained a close connection with food through her subsequent gigs as a waitress, bartender, caterer, and sales clerk at a kitchen supply shop. Unlike most chefs, French never received any type of formal training – she never went to culinary school and much of what she knows about cooking was self-taught through trial and error in the kitchen (and she has the scars on her arms to prove it) – yet through hard work and perseverance, she was able to turn her passion for food and natural ingredients (from growing up on her parent’s farm) into a successful career. French is the owner of The Lost Kitchen -- a small restaurant tucked into a repurposed 19th century mill in the little town of Freedom, Maine (population less than 1000). In the open kitchen of her award-winning restaurant (which is also world-renown), French cooks to a constantly packed crowd, with bookings for the 40-seat dining room usually sold out months in advance. French’s restaurant specializes in “farm-to-table” cooking where she plans her menus daily around the freshest ingredients she is able to obtain each day – majority of her nearly all-female staff are farmers who tend to their own farms by day and work at the restaurant by night, oftentimes bringing with them to their shifts the ingredients that would be used in the day’s dishes (i.e. ripe tomatoes newly picked that morning, eggs laid that day by farm-raised chickens, etc.).
Behind French’s success though, is a harrowing personal story of survival – a journey fraught with pain and turmoil, and enough emotional ups-and-downs to last her several lifetimes. In her memoir, French writes candidly, honestly, and succinctly about her various struggles -- from growing up in a dysfunctional household with an emotionally absent father, an obedient-to-a-fault mother, and an estranged younger sister who loathed her, to getting pregnant at 21, dropping out of college, and subsequently becoming a jobless single mother who eventually moves back in with her parents, then later marrying a man 20 years her senior who turned out to be a scumbag, manipulative monster. She also lays bare her struggles with depression, suicide, self-loathing, an addiction to prescription drugs that spiraled out of control, and the moment she hit rock bottom after being committed to a psychiatric ward and subsequently forced into rehab, losing everything – her home, her restaurant, her marriage, and most painful of all, her beloved child – in the process. Broken, beaten, penniless, with all sense of dignity and self-worth shattered beyond repair, it takes all of French’s strength – physically, mentally, emotionally – to claw her way back from the precipice and rebuild her life from scratch.
French’s story is poignant and heartbreaking, yet also hopeful and inspiring. There were moments that made me cry, moments that made me smile, and of course, moments that made me seethe with anger. French writes with raw honesty and sincerity about her life that is rare and absolutely admirable. She does not shy away from recounting her own flaws, nor does she deny her own role in making a mess of her life (for example – deliberately ignoring all the red flags and warning signs about her ex-husband Tom and the kind of person he was), which I definitely appreciated. Prior to reading this book, I actually had never heard of The Lost Kitchen, but afterward, I found myself wanting to learn more about this little restaurant “in the middle of nowhere” and the tenacious woman who overcame the odds and poured her heart and soul into creating it.
This is a memoir that I’m glad I read and that I absolutely recommend. Unlike some other food memoirs I’ve read, I like the fact that this one achieves a good balance between recounting the details of the author’s story and describing the various food-related elements such as the dishes that the author cooked and how she sourced her ingredients, etc. There have been times when I would read a food memoir and the descriptions of the food would consist of various fancy words that usually went way over my head -- French’s memoir is different in that it’s very down-to-earth and the food descriptions are ones I am able to relate to. This book actually doesn’t come out until April, but if you love food memoirs like I do, I would recommend picking this one up sooner rather than later!
Received paper ARC from Celadon as part of Early Reader program.>
Rating: really liked it
This cover immediately had my attention. This would be a total cover buy for me. Those flowers. Gorgeous!
I am a huge fan of memoirs. This is the first time I've read one centered around food. I'll fully admit I was salivating during many points throughout these pages. It was really interesting to learn how French found her love of cooking. Oh how I wish I could visit The Lost Kitchen. Her love of fresh, local ingredients and farm to table approach is one I really admire. Plus I adore the rustic charm!
This story also has its heartbreaking moments, and at times I felt like throwing my book. Some of the events made me so angry for her.
Finding Freedom is raw and truly inspiring. Once again I am amazed by yet another memoir. I can not imagine the strength it must take to share your life story, your truth, with the world.
Thank you so much to Celadon Books for this gifted copy!
Rating: really liked it
This memoir annoyed me so much. I found the narrator unreliable and disingenuous and did not believe how she positioned herself as first, victim and then, heroine. Nor did I swallow her tales of being in detox and rehab (I always find detailed accounts of those days to be suspicious). And I thought she raked her sister over the coals for most of the book and then offered two pages at the end to say that all is sweetness and light between them. If you are a foodie, you may enjoy her many accounts of what she cooked. Otherwise, take a pass.
Rating: really liked it
I didn't know about The Lost Kitchen, an apparently acclaimed restaurant in Maine. I knew less about the owner/chef and her story, but apparently there is a show about her on a network I do not have, so I missed that context. (If you know, you know.) If you like food or recovery memoirs, this is one to try. Something about the pacing (or maybe the level of detail) made it take me a while to finish, but it's nice to read the story of a woman who fights to take control of her own life and finds work that is deeply fulfilling on the other side.
Rating: really liked it
French has an interesting story to tell, but she really could have used the help of a co-author or an editor capable of drawing it out of her. The contrast between her loving, detailed descriptions of the interiors and food in her restaurants and the clichéd, superficial way she talks about the other elements of her life is pronounced. The food all sounds lovely, but there were so many things I wanted to know more about. For instance, when she went into rehab for a very short period of time, her husband (who would eventually be her ex-husband) sought and got full custody of the son she had before she met him. Given how our legal system overwhelming favors mothers, it seems extraordinary that this happened. Either her husband was an evil genius, able to convince a judge that a woman who was trying to get help for her addictions was actually wildly unstable and unfit, or her own recounting of this time in her life is not entirely accurate. And the period in which she either had no custody or shared custody stretched on for several years. What was her son's life like during this time? How did his adopted father—who is absolutely the villain in this book—treat him? Was he simply using French's son to torture her, or did he care about the boy? Was the situation a toxic mix of both? I can understand French not wanting to invade her son's privacy, but if you don't want to share information about a truly central aspect of your life, memoir might not be the genre for you.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars. I didn't round it up because the prose, especially in description is run on to the point at which it is very hard to follow. As is her pronoun use. At times maybe to be sarcastic? Regardless you may be left guessing who he or she IS.
Incredibly honest and revealing straight forward about herself. For sure. And also inspirational to a healthy degree. That was a breath of fresh air in memoirs modern absolutely. She doesn't whine. She tells.
Interesting family reveals too. She has to own tons of moxie to write of her sibling and Dad as she did. Hard work for sure. Also immense rewards.
This book is darker than trailer or reviews would lead you to believe. There are also pieces of Erin "left out". Voids she worked (in both meanings of worked literally and figuratively) around considerably.
Rating: really liked it
A memoir with so much heart and a little bit of grit. You can not stop reading it. The food descriptions were something to savor. I could not read this just once. I read it twice.
The hardship and the overcoming is something else to read about. I have so much respect for French after spending an afternoon in her memoir.
I can't recommend this enough. 5 stars and please grab a copy.
The Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required and all views expressed are our own.
Rating: really liked it
I had not heard of the Lost Kitchen or Erin French before winning an advanced copy of this memoir on BookishFirst, but I am grateful for the chance to get to know Erin through her story. I like memoirs because as opposed to a biography they focus on the heart of the person’s story and this story was full of heart. But any story about the heart is usually full of pain and unfortunately there was plenty of that in this as well. With brutal honest Erin detailed the pain she had experienced and the devastating choices she had made. I loved the way her love for food and cooking was central throughout this book. I am far from a great chef, but the way she talks about food was so good I could almost taste it. The Lost Kitchen sounds like a truly magical place especially because Erin had to lose everything and hit the bottom because she could climb up and find what was lost.
