KATE TAYLOR was born in France and raised in Ottawa. Her debut novel, Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (Canada/Caribbean region), the Toronto Book Award, and the Canadian Jewish Book Award. Her second novel, A Man in Uniform, was nominated for the Ontario Library Association's Evergreen Award and won Kingston Reads: Battle of the Books in 2011. A recipient of the National Newspaper Award and the Atkinson Fellowship in public policy journalism, she is a long-time contributor to the arts pages of The Globe and Mail, where she currently serves as lead film critic and writes a weekly column about culture. She lives in Toronto with her husband and son.
“Usually it is a sufficient accomplishment for an author to set a
work of fiction in a single place and time and create characters
whose voices and actions resonate with authenticity. It is much
more of an achievement for an author to set a novel in three
different locales and three distinct periods and still have it
emerge with genuine characters whose thoughts, words and actions
move and inspire … Language and history, like love itself, lie at
the heart of this poignant and multi-textured novel … [an]
intelligent and accomplished work of fiction.” -- Winnipeg Free
Press
“Magnificent.... Like Michael Cunningham in his prizewinning The
Hours, Taylor adopts a tripartite structure to show how events in a
writer’s life and themes in his work have resonance for subsequent
generations. Taylor’s is, however, much the richer, subtler and
less deterministic work.... truly inspired.” -- The Times
(U.K.)
“Take this splendid book to bed with you.... It will be a surprise
if Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen doesn’t work its way on to
thousands of bedside tables with the same word-of-mouth
recommendation that turned Mary Lawson’s Crow Lake into a
bestseller.” -- The Globe and Mail
“Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen reads like a dream, meticulously
crafted and researched, sophisticated in style and structure.” --
National Post
“Kate Taylor achieves, with seemingly effortless grace, a
remarkable feat: the near-perfect balance between being true to
history and writing an engaging and fictional tale... In a
harmonious weaving of history and fiction, the author recreates the
essence of time past, gently enveloping her characters in their
context without ever overwhelming them… Mme Proust and the Kosher
Kitchen marks the stunning emergence of a writer from whom we can
expect much in the future.” -- Calgary Herald
“The strength of Taylor’s novel is in its evocation of Paris at the
turn of the 20th century. The social and family life of the
middle-class Prousts feels both accurate and imaginative.” -- The
Gazette (Montreal)
“This is a remarkable first novel -- thoughtful, versatile and an
extremely good read.” -- Penelope Lively
“…the parallel portraits of old and new worlds are vividly
atmospheric. This well-written, melancholy story contains a lot to
admire -- not least Marie's conclusion: ‘I have found the cure for
heartbreak. It is literature.’” -- Sunday Telegraph (U.K.)
“A work of sensitivity and depth from an author who writes
perceptively, with many moments of lyricism.” -- The Vancouver
Sun
“Taylor’s meticulously crafted novel is an impressive debut.” --
The Daily Mail (U.K.)
“Taylor has tackled these ideas with tenderness and subtlety; it is
an ambitious project by a promising writer.” -- Times Literary
Supplement (U.K.)
“Fans of A.S. Byatt will be intrigued by this book.” -- Flare
“Moving dextrously between Paris and Canada, Kate Taylor weaves
together these disparate strands with great skill, sympathy and
frequently arresting prose. She writes most beguilingly about
identity, belonging and exile. But above all, these stories issue
sharp warnings about the power and limitations of love, especially
the parental variety.” -- The Guardian (U.K.)
“A moving meditation on Parisian and Toronto history.” -- Maclean’s
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