CHARLOTTE AU CHOCOLAT

Charlotte Silver grew up in her mother’s restaurant. Located in Harvard Square, Upstairs at the Pudding was a confection of pink linen tablecloths and twinkling chandeliers, a decadent backdrop for childhood. Over dinners of foie gras and Dover sole, always served with a Shirley Temple, Charlotte kept company with a rotating cast of eccentric staff members. Her one constant was her glamorous, indomitable mother, forever clad in stilettos and cocktail dresses, who shouldered the burden of raising a family and running a kitchen after her husband left. Despite its glamour, Charlotte’s unconventional upbringing takes its toll, and as she grows she wishes her increasingly busy mother were more of a presence in her life. But when the restaurant—always teetering on the brink of financial collapse—seems as if it may finally be closing, Charlotte comes to understand the sacrifices her mother has made to keep the family and restaurant afloat.

Infectious, charming, and at times wistful, Charlotte au Chocolat is a celebration of the magic of a beautiful presentation and the virtues of good manners, as well as a loving tribute to the author’s mother—a woman who always shows her best face to the world.